Oily Marks Appear On Walls
by A Bit
Summary: From the author of the acclaimed 'Cafeteria Tables' A Bit delivers a story - one of the many out there - about another girl who is moments away from graduating Sky High and is paired up with our favorite pyrokinetic. Warren x OC. COMPLETE.
1. I Had Months To Write A Song

A/N – I don't own Sky High, Disney or 10 Second Epic. The Title of the story is form a song, and same for the chapter titles. Can you guess which ones?

Count Yourself In – 10 Second Epic.

**Chapter 1. I had months to write a song // That captured who you are**

"Ms. Kirwin, everything is set up for you. I'll come get you at the end of the hour. Good Luck."

"Okay, thanks."

And with that I sat down and attempted to work my way through labeling detailed diagram of a shrink ray, while trying to leave myself time to answer all five of the long answer questions.

Forty minutes later and the diagram was fully labeled, and questions completely answered. I knew without the help of my powers that this would be an easy hundred. Scratch that it could be, I never allowed my grades to ventures out of the careful boundaries I had created for them. Anything over an eighty percent meant that I had somehow evaded the neutralizer powers of the detention rooms that I was forced to write every test in. I had used my powers and was a suspect of cheating my way to success. Anything below a seventy and I was grounded at home.

It was a system I had developed the same year I developed my powers. Regardless of whether I actually knew the answers to all of Medulla's questions or not, if I scored to high I would be a suspect of cheating.

"Mr. Peace next time you might want to think acting in a more responsible way with your powers. One more slip up and I will have no choice but to give you an out of school suspension."

I could hear Principal Powers voice drifting through the opening door to the detention room. In strutted Warren Peace who grunted in response to her and flung his jacket a desk over from me.

"Ms. Kirwin, I hope that Mr. Peace won't be a disturb you while you are writing your test."

I dared a quick glance at the pyro, he had fixed his smoldering gaze on the wall.

"No, it'll be fine."

Powers answered with a nod and walked brusquely out of the room.

My palms were sweaty as I picked up the pencil. This was always the difficult part, deciding what to erase and what to keep, judging how much each answer was worth.

"Why are you writing a test in the detention room?"

I looked up from my paper and met Warren's stare. That was unexpected, in the fours years I had been in Sky High I had never heard Warren utter a syllable to anyone who didn't sit with Will Stronghold at lunch.

I nervously tugged on the sleeve of my shirt. I hadn't ever talked to him before, and I was more than vaguely aware that his social circle and mine were spheres that did not touch.

Uh oh, my mind had began to wander, how long had it been since he had asked his original question? I must seem so stupid, just sitting here and staring at him. It's not like he intimidates me. Okay that was a lie, I'm sure there was only a handful of people in this school that were not intimidated by Warren Peace, me not included. Now how much time had passed while I was thinking that? I had to say something….

"You're Warren Peace right?" Hoo boy, I was just a social starlet in the making wasn't I?

Warren smirked, and shifted his gaze back to the wall. Well now that I had sufficiently embarrassed myself.

I settled for only providing half the required answer for question number four, and mixing up six part of the shrink ray. I ran my hand through my hair a few times to easy me nerves, it was only one test – no need for me to get so worked up. However that logic had no effect on my anxiety as I picked up the paper and my pencil to go stand next to door and wait for Powers to come and let me out in about five minutes.

I always got worked up, but I pretty sure it had something to do with my powers. Seeing the future can have that effect on a person. I remember least year; I was sixteen and had just started getting my visions. My mom thought I was schizo, she always expected me to be normal like her. My particular power came from my dad's side of the family, naturally unable to deal she shipped my off to live with him. I had never been close with him, my parents divorced when I was practically born so the only time I saw my dad was during the holidays ie. Spring break, summer vacation, etc.

But it was a good life. We were more alike that I originally had expected. Neither of us being verbose, he didn't ask a lot of questions nor did I volunteer a lot of answers.

The door slid open, I loved the sound it made, very space age. I always felt like I was on a space ship at Sky High and we were all just aliens waiting to probe the innocent humans down below.

"Ah, Ms. Kirwin finished I see? Excellent, you're free to proceed to your fifth period class."

I had a free fifth period this year, so I headed out to the lawn of Sky High. This time of year was great for sitting outside, if you looked up it seemed as if you could practically tough the clouds obstructing the blue sky.

I sat under a tree and waited for my best friend Emily to show up. I hoped she hurried because I felt slightly self-conscious just sitting there with nothing to do.

The door opened and I could hear the laughter of a girl. I turned and saw it was Layla Williams, and Will Stronghold. I took back my earlier thought about my social circle and Warren's. It did meet occasionally, technically. I was kind of friend-acquaintances with Layla, she was a really nice person and fellow vegetarian. She also happened to be the person who helped me get caught up with two years of Sidekick, I mean Hero-Support classes that I missed because my powers hadn't developed yet.

But, that was awhile back (I was seventeen and a senior now) and I hadn't had a conversation with her since. That didn't stop her from smiling in my direction, or me from returning it.

"Bethany!" Emily sat down beside me obviously ecstatic, and followed my smile, "hey Layla!"

I saw Layla smile towards Emily now and grab Will's hand, She tugged him over in our direction, and he followed good-naturedly.

"Hey Bethany, Em. It's been a while."

Emily looked up at her and Will, "well I think I'll be seeing you guys more frequently now, I got sorted with that Ethan guy, he's your friend right?"

"Yeah, Ethan's like the smartest guy we know." Will answered.

"Cool guess he'll be a big help in the mad science challenge then, Who'd you get?"

"Will got paired with Linz." Layla answered.

"And you?"

"No news yet for me."

"Me either."

I looked at Layla and we shared a grimace. This hero-sidekick dichotomy really was flawed. Instead of being paired by some sort of matching system, or ranking abilities, Heroes got to pick their partners names out of a bag, and were allowed to reject their first choice on the presentation of a good argument. Sidekicks had absolutely no voice or choice in the procedure.

"Well I hope we get someone good."

"Me too"

- x -

I woke up with chills racking my body, and sheen of cold sweat across my face. I took deep breaths and squeezed my eyes hut trying to dispel the shivers that came with the visions. A quick look at the alarm clock revealed it was 12:03 am. I tried to sit up as quietly as possible, my dad's room across the hall. In the dark I slid the covers off and slowly, but quietly fumbled around my night table for my cell phone, and speed dialed Emily. It rang five times before she picked up.

"Hey B" He answered groggily. My family and friends had grown accustomed to my midnight calls.

"E-emmi? Emmi s-something is going to happen to K-kate.

"What? Okay what exactly is going to happen?"

"S-she…something happens after s-she lands. We have to get to the airport."

"Okay, okay, well I'll go wake my parents now, and I'll meet you there."

"Wait, can your parents get the strongholds too? It's _that_ kind of something."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Bye B." And I clicked the phone off, and opened the door to my room, I headed into my dad's and woke him up.

"Bethany? What's going on?"

"Something is going to happen to Kate, we need to get to Maxville International now. And you need to go suited and everything"

Our parents and the Strongholds had gone into the airport to take care of the situation. Currently, Emily, Will, and I were sitting in my dad's SUV parked outside the airport. We were listening to the reporter's play by play of the situation on the radio.

Emily's mom was there as Polar Crush, she could create and manipulate water like Emily. My dad was there as Arachnoid, a third generation hero stemming right from Peter Parker himself. See first there was Peter with the spidey sense and spidey moves, he and Mary Jane had a daughter. Ariele Parker had the spidey moves, but none of the precognition. Ariele Parker-Kerwin then had a son James Kerwit, who had again only spidey moves. And from James Kerwin spun me no spidey moves, but enhanced spidey precognition. I didn't just sense the danger and dread I _saw_ it in my visions.

The Commander is launched by Jetstream and lands blow right to the noggin' of Transmover. Transmover is swingin' that plane of passengers around dangerously fast now folks. Look's like he's going to try to slingshot it at the Commander. 

_Polar Crush encases the Transmover in ice but he has broken out of it! Transmover has just flung the pane at the Commander and Polar Crush, Arachnoid has created a web that is stopping the plane somewhat but not completely, Jestream is pulling on the tail end of the plane to slow down it's impact. But it's not enough the plane's side has made contact with the Commander and Polar Crush, the passenger's condition is unknown._

My breath caught involuntarily as they went on.

_Jetstream is now flying around Transmover and has created an air vortex, and Archnoid has spun Transmover into a web. The Commander is resurfacing, and he has the Transmover pinned down now…yes, The Transmover has been neutralized! Stay tuned for the condition of the passengers of Flight 435. _

- x -

Hospitals had always bothered me. The eerie white glow of everything, it was like they were trying to simulate the white light you were supposed to head too. It was very silent as we sat in her room. No one was saying anything, I guess because no one knew what to say.

All the plane's passengers had remained somewhat unharmed except for an unfortunate three. A man had been rushed into surgery because some shattered glass from the plane's window had gotten stuck in his neck. But the surgery had gone fine; he was in recovery right now. A woman had an anxiety attack and was currently hooked up to a respiration machine, about four rooms down from where the man was located in recovery. Kate had been so unlucky as to be in an aisle seat. Her seatbelt had snapped and she fell into the aisle and smashed her head. At first the doctors thought she had a concussion but when she wasn't responding to any outside stimulus they reevaluated their diagnosis. Kate was in a coma. It was unsure when, and if she would wake up. I was currently in the Maxville Super's Hospital at her bedside with Will, and Emily.

I blamed myself for this. Partially at least, I was sensible enough to know the entire thing wasn't totally preventable. But if I had more control over my power, if I had more control over my emotions maybe I could have saw more, or understood more of my vision. Maybe I could have saved Kate. I was sure even though no one would admit it the same thing had at least crossed their mind, along with a little of personal blame.

It was still silent, only the beeping of the monitors broke the monotony now.

"Katie?? B-b-baby?"

Her mother came into the room and flung herself over the end of Kate's bed, her father following. It was too personal too tense. I felt like the air was too thick for me to breathe. I had to get outside.

"Bethany wait. " Her mother turned to wards me, "Bethany, they told us you saw it. Why wasn't it stopped?"

Oh yes I _definitely _needed air right now.

Outside the Hospital, the night air was crisp and cool. The moon was sparkling and it smelled like it was going to rain. But none of this really registered with me as I walked up to my dad's truck, unlocked the doors and hopped in the passenger seat. I leaned my head back against the seat closed my eyes and pretended that I was still sleeping, and this was just a nightmare that I needed to wake up from.

There was a sharp rap on my window and I turned to see my dad, Will, and Emily. I rolled down the window.

"Hey Bethany, sweetie" My dad said, "The Strongholds, Mrs. Adund, and I have to stay and fill out some reports for PIRRC (the Powered Individuals Records and Research Center). Kay? So all you kids will head over to Emily's and stay there for the night, everything should be sorted out by midmorning, and everyone can head home after school." He smiled and headed back towards the hospital after that.

"Come on Bethany, we're going to your house, so you can pick up some clothes and stuff for tomorrow, and then Will's and then mine."

- x –

I didn't sleep the entire night, all I could think off was Kate lying in a hospital bed. Her golden hair was damp and fanned out all around her and under those bright hospital lights she looked like a drowned angel.

I got up and tiptoed to the bathroom down the hall from the guest room in Emily's house. I carefully shut the bathroom door behind me so it wouldn't make so much as a creek, turned on the light and the tap. I splashed water on face to refresh myself, like the girls in all those Hollywood movies. But instead of feeling invigorated or cleaner, all I felt was sloppy and tired. My digital watch read 2:58 am. I really should try and get some sleep, especially if I was expected to go to school tomorrow.

As I was heading back to my room I noticed the faint glow of lights, that was weird I thought shouldn't everyone be asleep? I walked towards the light and realized it was coming from Emily's room maybe she couldn't sleep either. I started to push open the door, and I heard a soft moan. Against my better judgment I peeked through the crack between the door and the wall and saw Emily and Will making out on her bed.

"_Beyond the common grind;  
The 9 to 5 the dead end jobs we try,  
We try to hide.  
We struggle through the means;  
To meet the ends.  
Please tell me that this life isn't permanent_."

* * *


	2. But I Fear I Have Done You Wrong

A/N – Woo! 5 reviewers. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sorry it's been a while since I updated, I promised I would try and do it frequently but I discovered this neat little thing called Facebook that is extremely addictive. I also advance apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes. I don't own Sky High, Disney or the most amazing band, Aqualung. The Title of the story is form a song, and same for the chapter titles. Can you guess which ones?

Strange and Beautiful – Aqualung

**Chapter 2. But I fear I have done you wrong // Because I've failed you so far**

Numb.

It was the best way to describe how I was feeling right now. I felt isolated and alone, but not sad or overly emo. It had been like this for me since the morning at Emily's house. Every movement and action of mine felt automatic, robotic. It had been two weeks since that morning and I still had no idea what was wrong with me. Maybe I was trying not to feel guilty about Kate. Maybe I was feeling guilty and I was repressing everything for so it could resurface later in a midlife crisis or drunken binge. Maybe I wasn't even guilty? I knew that this could be a very real possibility. A small part of me acknowledged that it was debatable whether I was the cause of Kate's comatose state by association; the problem was very few people realized that, like Kate's parents for instance or the student body at Sky High.

I had gone to school with stares and whispers trailing after me like I was the father of Anna Nicole's baby or something. Not that anyone ever talked to me about it though. My father had had given me more than a few well meaning looks, and frequently asked if I was "okay." None of my friends at Sky High had brought up the topic; I myself hadn't the courage to bring it up. How was I even supposed to try?

"_Uh hey guys, you know I indirectly let Kate go comatose?"_

"_Yeah…."_

"_Are you okay with that? Do you blame me? Are we even still friends?"_

See, it just doesn't work out. It turned into the elephant in the room, or cafeteria more specifically. In my classes I didn't have a problem with not talking to anybody, I could bury myself in work. But lunch, in the cafeteria seemed designed to separate the popular from the unpopular. I wasn't the over-friendly type but I wasn't the recluse either. I had my fair share of good friends, who just happened to be treating me like the black plague right now. It started with the small smiles and avoidance of conversation in the mornings, and during class. Then it progressed to the all out exclusion of me at lunch. It was like I was invisible. Everyone chatted, and smiled, and laughed, it's just that none of that was directed at me. In fact I had been pushed to the edge of the table so from an outsider's point of view it would seem like I was sitting by myself at the edge of a table populated with people.

What made the situation worse, yes it got worse, was that during that spare time I had, not being engaged in conversation or anything, I stared at Emily. Just stared, sometimes I would look back and forth between her and Will. Now, I had never seen Will and Emily together before, but I guessed that they must be acquaintances from the Hero class. I tried to watch them as a completely objective third party observer, but from my observations they acted like they didn't know each other at all. It was baffling how they even progressed to secret…lovers? I hadn't even witnessed a hallway greeting. What I had witnessed was a handful of PDA's from Will and Layla and each one made me sick. I wanted to say something but that would mean confessing to Kate I had been spying, but saying I saw it in a vision could easily cover that up. The real problem lied in where my loyalties were. If I told Layla, my friendship with Kate would be over, and while it might be over already I was desperately clinging to the remnants of it hoping in time it could be salvaged. I didn't enjoy being the school's new pariah. Not to mention even if I was ready to tell Layla, I wasn't sure if she would believe me. Two weeks ago I wouldn't have believed me.

These were the circumstances that pushed me to my current location, the back corner of the library. I had begun the habit of eating my lunch throughout class and then hurrying to the library so I could bury myself in a book. I had gotten through some pretty good ones too, _The Importance of Being Earnest, Twilight, New Moon, Alpha and Omega_.

"Bethany?" It was Layla, God the things I wanted to tell her.

"Hey Layla, long time no see."

"I know hey I was just looking for a book to help with my Mad Science report but now that I found you there's something I want to tell you. I know everyone in the school is blaming you a bit for Kate's…accident. But I know it's not your fault. You did the best you could."

I would have hugged Layla in that moment if I knew it wouldn't result in some sort of awkward explanation. As it was I broke eye contact and stared at the wall, it seemed I had something moist obstructing my vision…..

"Will has told me all about that night, and he doesn't blame you either. And, well, uh, I've noticed that you haven't been sitting with your_ friends_ lately and I was wondering if you wanted to come sit with me at lunch tomorrow. No one at my table shares the sentiments of the rest of the school."

"Sure Layla that would be cool."

We both smiled, and then she walked off. Just to feel a little more comfortable at rejoining society tomorrow I concentrated on getting a vision of tomorrow at lunch and saw myself chatting away happily. That's good, if I would have seen anything resembling awkwardness I would have had to find a new place in the library to hide.

- x -

"Hey Bethany? I've got a great joke for you. Okay, two guys walk into a bar—"

"Oh Zack not the bar jokes again!"

"Give it a break man."

I was currently wedged between Zack and Magenta who were in the awkward post-break up phase. I alternated between listening in to Zack's jokes and making conversation with Magenta and Layla. It was noisy, and chaotic because everyone was talking and eating at once while assuming that they had the full attention of the rest of the group. In fact, the only person who wasn't talking or eating was Warren. He was looking through Will's iPod and periodically gazing up at his surroundings. The funny thing about that was I got the weirdest feeling from him. Like he was watching, no not watching but assessing me or something. Not that I ever caught him doing it.

"Magenta is free on the ninth, so we can get lunch and go shopping then too?" Layla asked.

I nodded my consent. I was surprised to find that for our diversity in styles we shared common interests when it came to books and movies. In fact I had booked almost all my spare time on weekends to go to bookstores, sleepovers, or to movies with them. I even found myself getting along famously with Will, Zack and Ethan. I enjoyed everything about this group of people, the diversity, Zack's blinding wardrobe, Ethan's human database memory, Will's good nature, and Magenta's sarcastic jibes. I loved it, and though I could literally _see_ myself becoming good friends with the group in future I couldn't help glancing over at the table where I had once been so frequent a presence and mourn the loss of what had been such good friendships.

"So is it me, or is Warren kinda staring at you?" Magenta whispered conspiratorially.

My suspicions were confirmed by her observations; even still I wanted to catch him in the act. I looked down at my food tray while casually observing him out of my peripheral vision; as soon as his gaze turned to me I met it. Warren's stare was all intensity and assessment and fire, it was as if something had caught on fire inside of me when our eyes met. I felt like he could see into the very depths of my soul. His eyes were the color of raw sienna.

"You got a problem psychic?"

"Don't mind Warren Bethany, he doesn't refer to anyone by their actual name." Will offered teasingly. I broke eye contact with Warren and felt the tension evaporate.

Smiling at Will I answered, "I'll try not to."

_- x -_

It was the second last period of the day and by now the only thing everyone could talk about were the partner placements. Who picked who, who rejected who, why they rejected them, what powers their heroes had, what their assignment was. From what I could gather this year the students were taking over a bit of the responsibilities of the professional heroes of Maxville and had to track down and apprehend a minor villain to pass their senior project. After that it seemed they came back to school for finals, which consisted of the traditional senior level subject challenges. Those were always a subject of great speculation as well, what happened was each teacher of a senior level class like say Mad Science designed a challenge hat required the team, or partnership or whatever you called it to solve it using their knowledge of the course. Last year Medulla had the students disable a seismic wave-inducing device while dodging random fire from freeze rays.

What bothered me about this was that I had yet to be approached by anyone about me being chosen as his or her partner. It had been angina t me for quite a while now but more so that all of my new friends had been paired up along with everyone from the rest of senior class. Now their wasn't exactly an abundance of super powered individuals in the world, otherwise being a hero wouldn't be such a big deal. In fact, Sky High was only about 200 students in total, with about 50 in each grade level. Usually at the senior level when there were not enough sidekicks for the partnerships they allowed heroes to pair up or work individually in the case of odd numbers, when there were too many sidekicks some heroes got to pick two sidekicks, but sidekicks were never allowed to work alone. The more people talked about their partners the more I worried, what if they forgot to enter my name into the sidekicks pool?

I was in my fifth period sidekick self defense class. No one was practicing self-defense though; they were all too excited for Friday. Senior classes were officially "dismissed" Friday so that we had time to get with our partners and track down our villains. The school was still holding senior classes during that time but it was mostly for advice, training, or preparation for finals once the villain was apprehended. So the teachers just showed up but didn't exactly put a lot of effort into teaching these last couple days. The only exception was Coach Boomer. He had cancelled all his classes so he could close down the gym to get it ready for the STC (Save the Citizen) Tournament. The tournament was the part of this year that I was least looking forward too. It is a special senior class mandatory event that should start up in about two-ish weeks. It replaces the subject challenge for STC (thank goodness!) and the winning teams would be named valedictorians. The only catch to this was you had to compete in the tournaments in your assigned partners.

I sighed and looked down at the brochure in my hands. It was for the only university for super powered individuals like myself, InterniaU (IU). I could basically choose to pursue one of two careers offered there:

Researcher ( offensive and defensive technology or genetics)

Teacher (for Sky High or Eurostar)

Eurostar is the only (beside Sky High and InterniaU) power education institute in the world. I think it's located somewhere in Greece, Santorini.

I'm not overly fond of the idea of teaching, mainly because I knew if I tried I would just end up blushing, stumbling, stuttering, and in general making a embarrassment of myself. Researching I could see myself doing, the only problem with that was InterniaU was extremely competitive being the only hero university and all. I already sent in my application, and I checked the Sky High office everyday to se if it had come in (they didn't send things like that in ordinary mail, that's like advertising it for super villains).

A knock on door pulled my out of my reverie and as I looked up I saw Principal Powers. She asked me to come with her to her office and for the life of me I couldn't imagine why. I hadn't done anything worth reprimanding or commendation, could it be my application results for IU? I sighed dreamily. Powers seemed to hear me and smiled warmly as we stopped outside her office door.

"Don't worry your not in trouble Bethany"

She opened the door to reveal Warren Peace sitting in front of her desk.

"Please have a seat Bethany" She gestured, " As you may or may not know after partner assignments I take it upon myself to check in on groups sporadically. As I was looking through the assignment list I noticed that the two of you had not picked up your information package yet." At this she paused and gave Warren a meaningful look. Wait, meaningful look? Something was definitely going on, it was almost like she was scolding hi silently.

"In an effort to help facilitate your best efforts at completing this project I decided I would present it to the two of you now and we can go through it together.

"Wait, I'm _your_ sidekick?" Warren gave a noncommittal grunt and Powers a tight apologetic smile to both of us. Fan-freaking-tastic! Warren had known the whole flipping time and he never said one word. I practically ate lunch with the guy.

Powers delved into the contents of our info package explaining each document, form and expectation. Contact information for each partner, names of trusted seamstresses, and excuse list for social absences, a USB drive that contained all the information PIRRC permitted us to know to apprehend our designated villain, and a list of dates for when we had to show up for subject challenges (June), and the dates for the competitions in the STC Tournaments. She also gave us some extra stuff she had just happened to have lying around like a complete Hero and Support Team registration package for PIRRC (we had to register and detail our progress for them to communicate to Sky High). I never said anything, but I was confused about why Warren and I were receiving so much special treatment, I mean she picked up our forms for us. I knew that this hadn't happened to any one else from the conversations I'd had with Layla and Will about their projects. After she dismissed us back to out class I couldn't help but linger in the doorway of the main office and contemplate my bad luck. What heinous crime had I committed in a past life to deserve getting stuck with the hot headed pyro now.

_- x -_

When I turned the corner he was halfway down the other hall.

"Wait where are you going?"

"To my class…we still have the entire afternoon left you know." He answered still walking away. He was quite speedy.

"But shouldn't we talk about this? I mean we need to meet, and look for clues, and trails, and stuff..."

"Look, I don't work in groups, or partners, or whatever you want to call this. I don't need a sidekick, and I _won't_ be the hero that catches this guy okay?"

"But—"

"But nothing. Honestly, psychic I'm surprised you didn't see this coming, I have no desire to be a hero."

Okay not only was he cutting me off now, but he wouldn't even stop walking and look at me! I was chasing him down and he's raising his voice at me. This is stupid why is he getting angry? I should be angry. I am angry. He knew this whole time that I was his sidekick and he intentionally snubbed me. And how could he not want to be a hero? Everyone wanted to be a hero deep down.

"You don't want to be a hero? Not at all?"

"No." He answered and continued to walk away.

I stood rooted to the spot fuming. Of course not I thought angrily. Of course he wouldn't. This was Warren Peace after all; he didn't want to anything in life but act sullen and intimidate people. He's just a bully, no better than Lash or Speed. The part that really got me was that I should have known. Now I'll never get a chance to be a sidekick or actually use my powers.

"No. Of course you wouldn't want to would you? It doesn't matter that _we_ are responsible for catching this villain. Or that _we_ are letting down the citizens of this country does it? No. And it doesn't matter that I have been waiting and training to be Hero Support for the last two years of my life!" By this time the tears were flowing freely down my face and I had no doubt that I was bright red in color.

"No it's my fault. I should have listened. I've heard all about you Warren Peace. Your just the son of a villain."

At this he stopped walking and turned. Even at the distance I could see the anger in his eyes, and as he moved closer I could make out steam rising from his figure. He stopped in front of me and leaned forward so out noses were only centimeters apart.

"So you know me do you?" He spat, and shoved me into the wall. "Well I know all about you as well. You're the girl who fucked up her vision and let her friend go comatose. The same friend who was originally supposed to be your assigned hero. Then there were no heroes left but me even though I was previously guaranteed permission to work alone. So I was forced to be your partner." Warren's words stung, each new one hurting more than the last but I was determined to hold my ground, or at least not break down till he was far far away. But this answered my unasked question about the special treatment Powers gave us in ensuring that we met and received our task instructions.

Warren's then continued, his voice dangerously low, and the heat rolling off of him waves. I mentally registered that this could very well be close to the end of my life so I shut my eyes in anticipation of a fiery death.

"But you, you know so much about me don't you? You know I'm the son of a villain and since you're psychic you should know what I'm going to say next."

I really didn't.

"I definitely don't need your Support, and I will not help you find this guy, so you should just run off and find another Hero for you to be Support to. Then you find this villain by yourself."

With one final shove he stormed off. I was pressed against the wall with my eyes shut, and when I opened them he was halfway down the hall again. Only this time I didn't try to stop him.

"_Sometimes, the last thing you want comes in first,  
Sometimes, the first thing you want never comes,  
And I know, the waiting is all you can do,  
Sometimes..._."

* * *


	3. The Chord That Struck, An Angel Fell

A/N – I have to admit I was disappointed by the number of reviews I received for chapter 2. I had hoped to receive the same as chapter one or more but I guess for that I'll have to wait. I also advance apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes, and the amount of time between the posting of this chapter and chapter two. _I also have pictures of what the OC Cast of this story look like in my profile._I don't own Sky High, Disney or the incredible David Usher. The Title of the story is form a song, and same for the chapter titles. Can you guess which ones?

The Music – David Usher

**Chapter 3. ****The chord that struck, an angel fell // The sky went dark and it all comes down**

I was in my room admiring my outfit in the mirror. It was Halloween today and I was determined that I had given Warren enough time to be sullen and brooding. I mean he had his personal space right? It had been like a week and a half anyways, how much more time did the guy need? At school he hadn't acknowledged me, not that he paid attention to my presence before but I had expected something after out little fight. Maybe I wanted him to storm away from the table I had grown accustomed to sitting at, or maybe I wanted him to ask me to leave. Who knew? But he didn't do any of that, he just sat down and ate his lunch like any other day. I however, had adopted the habit of watching him out of the corner of my eye. And the more I watched him the more discouraged I became when I thought about the likelihood of our partnership.

In the beginning I was convinced that I needed Warren to catch this guy. But the more I thought of it I rejected that idea. I wasn't a damsel in distress, and Warren was far from a knight in shining armor. He had no desire to help me, fine. I didn't need his help I was determined to catch this guy by myself. So I decided I would give Warren a little space (I wasn't exactly eager to be all buddy buddy with him either) and if he didn't talk to me or approach me after a week, I'd go after our villain by myself. The onl problem with that was that we had to submit the Hero and Support Team registration package to PIRRC. But that stopped being a problem the second I forged Warren's signature on the documents after I had signed and filled them out myself. So it was little dishonest, but it was for the greater good right? Not to mention I had conveniently seen myself not getting into trouble for it so….all that was left was to get this guy. And tonight was the perfect opportunity.

During my spare time I had practically memorized his villain file and I had traced reports of police trying to track him after his small time jewelry store heist jobs. I borrowed a city map from dad and highlighted all his heist locations and escape routes. Everything led to a neighborhood not far from mine. So for a few days after school while waiting for Warren to come around I had casually meandered through the neighborhood and I caught sight of man who almost perfectly matched the build of my supposed villain. I followed him home one day and saw his house/mansion; he was either from a wealthy family or had a really high paying job. I identified this man as Patrick Flanning, a part time real estate agent, and upon extensive googling, and I became more sure than ever that this was our guy, I mean my guy, my villain. No ordinary real estate agent, especially a part tiem one could afford a house that size, or a car that expensive. Patrick was the Combuster. Lame name, I know but his power was turning into a puff of smoke, much like how Principal Powers could turn into comets. It made it real easy for him to evade the police, and other law enforcing individuals.

So now that I was sure I had my man pinned down, all I had to do was apprehend him right? I hadn't been able to see him close up yet and I was hoping that today I could and maybe even get a glimpse at the inside of his lair…I mean house. Wow, I was really getting into this hero stuff. Too bad my outfit wasn't too heroic. One of the perks of being five feet tall, and curve-less for a seventeen year old was that people often confused for a thirteen year old. Today that was working in my favor. I had gotten dressed up as Josie, the lead singer from Josie and the Pussycat Dolls. I had even convinced Layla and Magenta to come trick or treating with me in matching costumes, under the guise of a girly sleepover of sugar coated fun. I know what you're thinking - I'm a horrible person. But I didn't mean for them to get involved, they heard I was going trick or treating from my dad one day when he answered the phone, and it was beyond them to understand why I was going alone so they volunteered to accompany me. I tried to convince them not to come, I really did, but Layla is well Layla – stubborn and determined. They were currently putting the finishing touches on their costumes right now.

If everything went according to plan, and by plan I meant my vision, then we would arrive at Patrick's house when he had run out of candy, he'd invite us in, and ask us to wait while he got some more candy from his basement (creepy right?) and then Layla had to go to bathroom. Patrick still being in the basement, and me being an upstanding citizen and protégé under the tutelage of Veronica Mars would not miss the opportunity to snoop through the hallways of Patrick's house. The only problem was that was where the vision stopped. But I was willing to overlook that. I was almost a hundred percent sure that this would go off without a hinge. I mean it's not like I was going to try and apprehend the guy tonight, I just need to be completely sure that he was the Combuster before I stormed in powers flaring…not that my powers flare, that's more Warren's arena.

"Hey Bethany you ready?" Magenta called through the door.

"Yeah Mag, are you and Lay?"

"Mhm…oh wow our costumes all look so great, we have to get a few pictures!"

"Sure thing I'll be down in a sec."

It was now or never.

-x-

We had arrived.

"Happy Halloween!" We chorused.

"Wow, huh…aren't you guys a little old to be trick or treating?" Patrick asked.

"Not really, you can never out grow you inner child." Layla answered.

"Well then I hope you inner child likes chocolate kids because…..oh my. I seem to have given away all my candy, but if you girls wouldn't mind stepping inside for a minute I'd go get some from my basement for ya"

Magenta, Layla and I shared a look. Magenta having the best sense of self preservation out of us three shook a head a fraction of an inch, but I glanced at Layla and gave her a nod, she seemed to think it was an okay idea. I mean from the casual observer's perspective Patrick seemed like a fairly decent guy. Nice house, welcoming smile, thick glasses, sunny disposition, besides it wasn't as if I had seen anything go wrong in my vision.

We stepped inside, and if possible it was bigger than I imagined. The foyer floor was what appeared to be marble tile, and beyond that I could see a hall with hardwood floors and walls decorated with the occasional painting. Definitely not just a part time real estate agent. Patrick was walking down the hall when Layla called for him to stop.

"Sorry Mr…..?"

"Oh where are my manners, Mr. Flanning, Patrick Flanning."

"Mr. Flanning" Layla blushed, " I would like to …ah…may I use your washroom please?"

Patrick appeared surprised for a moment, "Of course, I'll show you the way." And Layla followed.

Perfect. I waited approximately three minutes before I wondered aloud about Layla's absence. I feigned worry that she might get lost in a house this size. Magenta seemed to share my concern but didn't want to come with me, she though it best that I go look for Layla by myself. That was fine with me because I didn't really see conspicuously casing a villain's house while locating a friend as a two person job anyway.

I was mentally detailing everything I saw for further analyzing in my brain. I walked down the hallway and turned past a kitchen, and multiple sitting rooms. My main goal was to look for confirmation of his being the Combuster and locate Layla. I wasn't sure which way his basement was I didn't want to take a wrong turn and suddenly end up confronting him, so I held out my hand and tried to use my precognition to sense the way I needed to go. The halls in this house seemed to never end, it was as if every room in the house was connected by the interlinking halls that encircled the house. Tricky. Good layout, if the hallways were meant to detour someone like myself from finding, oh a secret lair perhaps?

I turned a corner and came to hall with a series of doors. I passed a door on the right, left, left, and tingle. Wait tingle? Backtrack. I paused in front of the second door on the right and twisted open the knob, slowly pushing the door in as not to make a creak. It looked like a mini library of sorts. Lots of books, a small painting, sitting area in the corner. I took a slow turn about the room and something caught my sleuth's eye. The picture wasn't hanging right. As I went to adjust it, it fell making a small thump and hiding behind it was biometric scanner reader. Bingo. I quickly stuck the picture back on the wall in what I hoped was its original position. And made to duck out of the room and make my way back to Magenta. I slowly closed the door behind me and turned around, as I headed back around the corner I walked into something, more specifically something.

Patrick grasped my shoulders in his hands and stared down at me. After a moment he inquired as to why I was wandering in his house. It took me a moment to respond, because the Patrick I was seeing now was a different from the person who had answered the door. This Patrick looked more, edgy, darker somehow. He wasn't smiling, and his glasses were hung from his shirt pocket. His eyes were dark, and assessing and his entire face seemed to hold some underlying menace. His hold demeanor was insidious.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to wander around your house, I was just looking for my friend."

"Didn't your parents ever tell you it's dangerous to wander about stranger's houses?" When he answered his voice was almost a whisper and in the noiseless hallway it had an eerie effect that I'm sure he hoped to accomplish.

"I'm sorry."

"I'd hope so" he paused, "did you see anything…interesting?"

Until this moment I had been carefully avoiding eye contact, it made it easier for me to lie. Now as I stared directly at his eye I was sure the shock, guilt, and fear that he knew exactly why I was there and what I was doing was clearly readable on my face.

"Pardon me?"

He leaned down till he was just a little above my head, "did you like my house?"

"I..uh..I did it's very beautiful."

"I decorated it myself."

"You have very expensive taste." I whispered.

Shit! What was I thinking? Patrick had something of a smug half grin half grimace on his face. He regarded me for a moment longer and turned around. I took this as a cue to follow him. We stopped outside another door. Patrick told me this was the bathroom where Layla was and that he was going to give Magenta the candy for us. I nodded my assent wondering why he was leaving me here when had just caught me snooping in his house. It hadn't escaped my attention that while he was walking away he put his glasses back on.

Once Layla came out I explained I had gone searching for her, and that it was alright with "Mr. Flanning." Layla gave me a small smile; I guess if it was okay with him, it was okay with her. Once outside Magenta and Layla had repeatedly thanked Patrick for his hospitality, he had given Mag all his leftover candy, and out bags were chock full of chips and jumbo chocolate bars. Patrick was all smiles and bashful joy. I stood behind the two and kept my mouth shut.

"I'm sorry I don't think I caught your names."

Before I could interrupt as to why he needed out names Mag and Layla had already given him our full names, all of our names. Patrick smiled and bid us a good night.

"And don't forget to brush away all that rotting sugar from your teeth girls."

"We won't" Layla answered. As she and Mag ran down his steps, probably eager to get back to my house and get to sleep. I was still making my way down his front steps which allowed me to hear the last part of his farewell.

"See, you friend was fine _Bethany. _It wasn't as if she…combusted or anything."

-x-

At school the next day nothing out of the ordinary happened. No mysterious visions, no confrontations with a hot-headed pyro…not that there wasn't still time left in the day for that. Layla and Mag had been sticking to me like glue as of late, it was like our one night sleep over had solidified my acceptance into their group, and I found my self freely conversing with them during most of my free time in the day. As the last minutes of school drew to an end, Layla and Mag invited me to meet up with them for some Chinese food at some restaurant called the Paper Lantern. I'd heard of the place before, and rumor had it that they were the best Chinese food in town, but unlike Layla and Mag I wasn't the biggest fan of Chinese, Italian or Ukrainian was more my thing.

As I exited the school bus and walked down the street I had a nagging feeling at the back of my head, it was warning me that something bad was going to happen. As I approached my front door I noticed it was slightly ajar. Okay, bad just happened. But let's not jump to conclusions right? My dad could just be about to run out, or ran in and you know forgot to close the door. But that seemed less than likely as I slowly pushed open the door. I remembered that much from watching detective movies, make slow movements, if you're defenseless you always have to let the villain know you're coming so they don't panic and well kill you.

"Hello?" I called out. As I peered quickly around the room I felt slightly safer. I mean the room was ransacked; couch cushions thrown everywhere, tv turned over…actually it might have been smashed. But all this damage gave me the comfort of knowing it was just your garden variety burglar, not like some serial killer, or lurking super-villain or anything. I made my way through the wreckage in the sitting room, and did a quick sweep of the rest of the house. Kitchen unharmed, bedrooms unharmed, bathroom unharmed, basement…harmed. And that thing about garden variety burglars I said before? Just toss that out the window, because the basement was almost unharmed, if you disregard the wall graffiti. It looked like someone had splattered oily paint, or maybe even just oil all over the white wall so it read "Ready to Combust?"

Busted.

"_Wipe the guilt out from your eyes  
And leave your conscience on the bed  
There's no one innocent here  
In the mirror you'll find faith"_

* * *


	4. The Choices Made, The Lies Forgotten

A/N – So thanks to everyone who read Chapter 2, all 640 of you, and a special thanks to the 3 that reviewed. I also advance apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes, and the amount of time between the posting of this chapter and chapter two. _I also have pictures of what the OC Cast of this story looks like in my profile. _I don't own Sky High, Disney or Leslie Feist. The Title of the story is form a song, and same for the chapter titles. Can you guess which ones? _FYI BIG STUFF NEXT CHAPTER! A certain comatose girl will awake and throw Bethany for another surprise. _Also, sorry if the chapter seems short, I'm in the middle or my graduation ceremonies, and getting ready for my diploma examinations.

Let It Die - Feist

**Chapter 4. The choices made, the lies forgotten // Oh well, this is the way that I know**

Now if you had recently been legally deviant and gotten caught, sort of, would you wait for your patient and caring father to get home and sit him down to explain the mess you had gotten yourself, you friends, and him into? Well maybe you would, but I wouldn't. I contemplated taking the honest high road out of this and preserving the "crime scene," but that thought line didn't last long. All I could see coming from it was Layla, and Magenta feeling betrayed and used by me, and my father feeling disappointed. That was probably the deal sealer right there, if he got angry I could understand that but the disappointment cut deep, I wouldn't be able to stand it if the father-daughter trusting relationship I had built these last two years.

In the end I convinced myself that it wouldn't make a difference anyways, because regardless of who found out what Patrick was still my criminal to catch. Admitting to everyone that I had screwed up wouldn't make him turn himself over to the authorities would it? No. And it certainly wouldn't do anything for my GPA.

So I settled in for an afternoon of manual labour, got out the sponges hot water and detergent, and made it look like the basement had never been stepped in. Next I set to work re-arranging the living room, putting back cushions and stuffing stray pieces of paper in my sweater pocket for later use. Thank goodness the television had been broken, that would have been hard to explain. Now that I had surveyed and patched up the damage first hand I had to admit, Patrick may be a criminal but he's a clean criminal. Either that or this was some sort of preliminary warning message to back the hell off. As long as I apprehend him soon it won't matter which of those ideas turns out to be true.

As I boarded the bus to school the next day I noticed that it was close to empty. I really wondered why I even bothered showing up, most people had put this time to better use hunting down their criminal or training with their partner in a borrowed secret sanctum for the subject challenges. A small voice in the back of my head told me it was because deep down I was hoping Warren would show up and apologize for acting like such a jerk, and then pledge to be the best Hero a Sidekick could ever desire – together we would nab Patrick and start our journey towards fame and glory. The small voice was clearly delusional, that was probably why it was small.

Once inside the school I meandered to the library where I settled myself down for a few hours where I could get intimately acquainted with the mechanics of power suppressant devices, and neutralizers.

-x-

After about an hour and a half of solid studying I had detailed out the methods of installing power suppressant fluid into a neutralizer dart or gun and had made an appointment with PIRRC to pick up some of these supplies. I was about to pack up to head over to the center when I heard some familiar voices carry over from the doorway to the library.

"Mr. Peace the gymnasium is currently not available for student use."

"Well, what if I need some equipment for my senior project."

"I am sorry Mr. Peace all equipment required for the completion of your senior project can be requested from, and provided by the PIRRC. Now if that is everything then I must be off" Powers replied.

I stepped out into the hallway as Warren turned the corner. What was with the hallways in this school? It was like they had some sort of cohesive force that pulled Warren and I together; every time I have confronted that boy it's been in a Sky High hallway. After a moment of mental debate I decided to continue the tradition, one of use had to give and approach the other and I would have bet my life that it wouldn't be him.

"Warren?" I called out. He stopped an turned to face me. I paused for a bit unsure of what to say, he was so easily offended.

"I was wondering if you uh, if you em... had given any thought to the Save the Citizen Tournaments, or the subject challenges?"

"Yes. I have given it thoughts." He stopped.

"Okay..and?"

"And when it happens we'll do it."

"'When it happen we'll do it'? Don't you want to practice or anything."

Warren offered me a cocky smirk, "I don't need to practise, you however I can't say the same for."

I blushed hot pink, how dare he! I was trying to be the bigger person and he was just belittling my efforts at being civil. But I couldn't just let him walk away, it was my marks, my life that rides on these grade too. If he doesn't want to co-operate, well I'll just make him co-operate.

"Look wait" I said before he could turn and walk away, "I know you need stuff like neutralizers and stuff from PIRRC. I just put an order in and I have an appointment to go pick it up this afternoon, you can come if you want."

After some moment of consideration Warren dipped his head a fraction of inch. I took this as a consenting nod and led the way to the school parking lot.

-x-

Once we were at PIRRC I went up to the receptionist's desk and showed her the ID card and case number that was assigned to me, well really Warren and I but I was the one who did all the work and registered for all the cards and whatnot. As I was sorting through the different equipment that had come in for me/us I could help but turn every so often and see what Warren had picked up. Lots of neutralizing equipment, maybe he was planning on deciding to work as a team with me after all. I let myself feel a little smug about the whole being a bigger person thing and breaking the awkward ice that had developed between us, not that it wasn't still awkward.

I turned arms laden with gizmos and goodies to find Warren eyes burning a hole through my cranium.

"What?"

"Nothing" he answered.

Yup, definitely still awkward. But I was okay with that, there should be some constants in life. But as we checked out the items, and piled our stuff into our bags while waiting for the shuttle bus to take us back within city limits I could still fee Warren's eyes on my back. I was having a lot of déjà vu today. First hallways meetings, now Warren staring at me. If history was about to repeat itself this meant that Warren and I were about to kill each other again, or more specifically Warren was about to kill me again.

"So you checked all this out under your name right?"

"Uh yeah"

"Don't you need an ID card and case number to check out that stuff?"

"Well yeah, I have both of those."

"You need me to fill out that Hero and Support Team registration package with me to get those, I know I checked." Wow so maybe my déjà vu wasn't déjà vu but my powers acting up to forewarn me of this conversation. It had to happen eventually, what bothered me the most was how I got caught twice in the last 24 hours. I decided to play my side of this cool, it seemed that if there was anything Warren appreciated it was being calm, collected.

"Well as far as PIRRC is concerned you did fill out that package with me."

"You forged my signature? I'm shocked sidekick didn't think you had it in you. I guess you're braver than I thought."

"Braver?"

"You went to Flanning's house the other night right?"

"How do you know that?" I said, my voice was significantly quieter than it had been before.

"Because I am trying to graduate as well, I paid him a little visit too. Except you completely fucked didn't you? Because he had a good idea about what I was trying to do." Warren pulled up the sleeve of his shirt. There was a long slash along his arm that looked fresh and red, like a cut that had just begun to heal.

"Oh Warren I'm so sorry. Here let me see." I gently held his arm and rand my index finger along the cut, I could hear a hissing noise coming from Warren. It was slightly moist with blood, and I blew on it hoping that would make it hurt less.

"Warren did you use any antiseptic or anything?"

"I don't have any antiseptic." I grimaced, well how was he supposed to clean and disinfect it then. I had tons of the stuff at my house.

"You should come to my house I can clean this for you." I heard myself say. That was stupid now he's going to say no, and it will be weird all over again.

We rode the bus to my house. Warren and I sat side by side and he kept his shirt sleeve up so that the open air could mingle with the cut, I heard that good on some show I watched once. He also allowed his arm to rest on my thigh as we sat, for inspection purposes.

Once we got to my house I sat Warren down at the kitchen table with a glass of water and hurried of to the bathroom. I returned moments later arms bearing gauze, swabs, antiseptic, and several different types and shapes of Band-Aids. As I proceeded to sterilize and clean his battle wound Warren took the opportunity to strike up what we both attempted at a civil conversation with each other.

He asked me about my family, and my dad. I asked him about his mom and his junior years of Sky High. Some of the tales he had of Stronghold were pretty funny when you threw in his dry sense of humour, especially the cafeteria fight.

"Are those pictures of you?"

"Yes." I flushed bright pink and bowed my head over arm so my hair would protect my face from his scrutiny. The pictures he was referring to were from my Sky High - school days, in those days I also wore a retainer and had to wear my plastic glasses.

We chatted for a few more minutes as I finished the sterilizing process. I had created special pseudo-sutures out of some thin material my dad always used on his scrapes after he had gotten back from a mission. All Warren had to do was replace the gauze wrap on the deeper parts of the cut every morning and he'd be fine in about a week.

I filled a little bottle with some antiseptic and put it and an extra sutures kit into a plastic bag for Warren in case he needed some extra care when he got home.

"So that's everything, you should be good to go now."

"Thanks, for uh, everything."

"No problem." I replied and handed him the bag. Some hair had fallen in front of my eyes and Warren moved his hand to brush it away, I took a small step forward to reflexively swat his hand away from my face but ended up knocking the bag of medical supplies down instead. We both bent down to pick them up and as I was rising up I came to eye level with Warren.

His eyes were lighter today but still smouldering, like pools of liquid ochre. Instinctively I leant forward as he was getting up and our lips met. I kissed him, and he kissed back. His lips were soft and full; he smelt faintly of sulphur and burning. I could feel the warm sensation of his power flowing over me, through me. And I could taste his breath on my lips. I could taste him on my lips.

Then it was over.

Faster than I thought it was possible Warren gathered his stuff of the floor or headed out the door. This time I didn't make the mistake of pursuing him.

My lips were slightly swollen from the kiss. And when I brushed my fingers across my lower lip I could still feel the heat that emanated from him on me.

"_Let it die and get out of my mind  
We don't see eye to eye  
Or hear ear to ear _

Don't you wish that we could forget that kiss  
And see this for what it is  
That we're not in love_"_

* * *


	5. I Would Give Everything For Some Hope

A/N – So I would like to take this moment to thank everyone who read this story. Everyone who read and review. Everyone who read without reviewing. It means a lot to me that you're all continuing to maintain interest despite the lack of frequent updates. I know I promise this a lot, but I really will try an update more often. Thanks to everyone who read Chapter 4, all 101 (Dalmatians!) of you. I also advance apologize for any spelling and grammar mistakes, and what may not seem to _some_ as an accurate depiction of Warren. I also have pictures of what the OC Cast of this story looks like in my profile.I don't own Sky High, Disney or The Plain White T's. The title of the story is form a song, and same for the chapter titles. Can you guess which ones?

Hey There Delilah – Plain White T's

**Chapter 5. ****I would give everything for some hope // Are you different, could I be different too?**

I had cleaned up the mess I had main in the entrance hall. I tried to think about school. I tried to think about Patrick and the mess I had unknowingly created for Warren and myself. But none of these thought trains lasted very long. The memory of the kiss – or the 'mistake' as I fondly dubbed it – was imprinted my memory. When he kissed back he might as well have branded me with his lips. This particular thought sent flutters down my stomach, and against my will I found myself thinking about Warren and I hanging out in public places, going on dates in public places, kissing in public places which inevitably leads to other things... that caused a stupid grin to work itself on my face and heat to rush to my face. Those things were not meant for public places. Warren and I were not meant for public places; Warren and I were not meant for anything. Not after this pseudo heroic collaboration of ours. That was another dead end for me. The more I looked back on it, attempting to go after Patrick without Warren was a bad idea. Like it or not I was labelled sidekick for a reason, I didn't have the destructive and physically coercive capabilities that Warren's powers gave him. I need him to help me.

I had pondered different ways of cornering Warren and approaching him for help, the problem was once I had him I had no idea what to say. It was too awkward now. I know all I'd be thinking of was how I had been kissing him and hoping to God that he wasn't thinking about the same thing. Technically, I reasoned with myself, I shouldn't be pinning too much of the disastrous results of this afternoon on my back. He kissed me back didn't he? If he didn't want to kiss me he could have pulled away in the few seconds it took me to close the space between us. But he kissed me back, and then bolted. I was confused and disoriented, having absolutely no idea what kind of shaky footing I left standing on with him. It seemed like it was going to turn into one of those elephant-room type things, where you spend all your time thinking about it but never talking about it. Not that I frequently had in depth conversation with Warren about feelings, or had conversations with him in general. I wasn't sure if that was a pro or con at this point in time. I made a move to pick up the phone and order some pizza. I unexpectedly shuddered and my vision became hazy, my hand was in a vice grip on the phone.

_There was a slow and steady beeping that slowly faded into the background noise of the bustles of carts and doctors. She couldn't notice it, her eyes were only for him. She'd spent a good amount of effort over the summer trying to contact him since the last dance. He wouldn't have any of it. He said he wasn't looking for a relationship, he wasn't looking for her. But if that was true he wouldn't be with her would he? She explained this to him in her soft voice. Despite the fact that her normally straight blonde hair had been reduced to tangles and frizz from be neglected she looked very pretty in an unkempt way. Like some sort of water nymph for a mythological story. Her hand moved onto to his and she gave it small squeeze, taking no notice at his lack of a reaction. Fire and Ice - complete opposites. _

This was more than unusual. This was not my typical area of precognition. My powers stemmed from an extra sensory perception to danger and injury. I didn't see how some vision about Kate getting cozy to Warren should be dangerous. My hand was still clenched around the phone. Maybe I should phone Emily and let her know Kate would wake up? After all they were cousins. But no, as far as Emily was concerned was visions were more help than hinder, it's not like I saw a lock or calendar in the background, there was not telling how far in the future this vision could take place. Usually my visions were fairly close to the inevitable danger. But like I said before this wasn't my usual type of vision. And since we were delving into the unusual before why was Warren cozying up to Kate? I knew she had some sort of little crush on him that she built up for a few days under the influence of the hot summer sun ever since they had danced together at homecoming. But I thought she had gotten over that. Maybe I was wrong, Emily certainly hadn't gotten over her little obsession with Captain America Jr. And it's not like there was anything holding Warren back from hooking with Kate once she woke up. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl hook up. There was nothing strange about that. Somehow though, I had the nagging feeling that I should keep my guard up around my former best friend.

- X -

I wished that I was at school. Not that I couldn't be at school if I'd wanted too but I missed the classes, and eating lunch in the cafeteria. I was school-sick. One of the best things about Sky High was it was small. There wasn't exactly an abundance of super powered kids running – or flying or whatever – around North America. The small population made it easy for everyone to know everything. Who is a Hero, who is a Sidekick, who won Save-the-Citizen, who dating who. High school was the physical embodiment of the adolescent grapevine. And right now I needed access to that grapevine so bad. I had been restless all night thinking about Kate, and Warren, and Emily, and even a little about Will, and then Layla. The problem was there was no way for me to know what was going on. It was too awkward to approach Warren about schoolwork much-less his dating life. And ever since those first Sky High days my circles of friends had been small but tight or so I thought. Not that I wasn't on speaking term with Emily, and unsure footing with Kate I could hardly go asking around whether or not she was awake and with Warren. I would need someone to tell me, someone who would bring up the topic so I wouldn't have too, someone who was connected to those different groups and would know. Finally, I realized the person I really needed was Layla.

I know it sounded bad. Like I was this parasite that was just feeding off her. But I truly did value Layla as a friend. She was just so her. She knew all the right people, and all the right things. And she was just a really nice person. I felt bad for using her when I did, but it just seemed like the better alternative at the time than telling her truth about why I wanted to go shopping with her, or have a sleepover. Some things are just better kept to yourself.

It was cold and snowing hard by this time of year. Quickly shuffling along the sidewalk I ducked into the nearest coffee shop I could find in Maxville Shopping Centre. The coffee shop also served as my rendezvous location for meeting Layla. It was just a few days before December and Christmas shoppers were taking a break from the weather outside. I order a tall decaf latte and huddled over to our usual table. Layla was already there.

"Hey Lay" I greeted her.

"Hey Bethany"

After we had gotten caught up with each other I was eager to start the Christmas Shopping that I used as the pretence for meeting her. Naturally, during our amicable chatter we drifted to the conversation of our friends. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to get them. I wasn't even sure if they expected or wanted me to get them something. I didn't want to put them in the awkward position of receiving a gift with nothing to give in return. But Layla reassured me.

"Don't sweat it, I know for a fact that Zach and Magenta were shopping for you two days ago. I'm surprised you don't know. Zach has such a big mouth…" She trailed off and smirked at me. I grimaced. She wasn't amused because of Zach's inability to keep secrets, but my powers had become sort of running joke. Everything now and then someone would throw in a comment like ' bet you didn't see that one coming' or 'you know what they say hindsight is better than foresight' and I would even get asked on the odd occasion – mostly by Zack – how the weather would look on a certain day. It was all to my mild chagrin. I guess they expect me, being a psychic, to know well, everything about the future. It was there constant disappointment when I was surprised at everyday occurrences.

We kept walking on till Layla came to a stop in front of store window. I peered to see what had caught her attention. It was a jacket. A men's jacket to be specific. In royal blue, with a thick red and white stripe going across the shoulders.

"For Will?"

Layla just smiled, and bowed her head. I didn't hear her sigh, but I saw the cloud of her breathe float into the air.

"I..I think. I don't know what I think. Something is wrong with Will. And me. With us. I think he.. might break up with me."

I didn't know what to say. Part of me wanted to tell Layla, there was nothing wrong with her. That everything was wrong with her dirt bag two-timing boyfriend. But that part reveled in her friendship, and if I told her that and how I knew.. well, there wouldn't be a friendship to revel in much longer. So I said nothing, kept my peace. The could guiltily offer was to put my arm around. Her. She enveloped my into a hug, and gave me a small self-deprecating laugh.

"It's okay. I'm fine. I'm just, it's different. But what happens happens right? If were supposed to be together fate will make it that way." And now she gave me the real Layla, cheesy, over the top smile. I didn't have the heart to tell her that fate lost its mystique when you could see the future, and when you _saw_ her boyfriend cheat on her.

As a means of a distraction I casually mentioned the underlying I had come shopping with her.

"So, do you think I should get Emily anything? I mean we were friends, even though she's completely ignoring me now for things I can't control."

"Well, I'd say no, that would just make the situation between you guys more awkward," She shot me an assessing look, "besides if you got her one I'm sure Kate would be expecting one as well."

I nodded as I got my confirmation, "Right, I heard she's all lucid now."

Another deep sigh came from Layla.

"Look, Kate is not stupid. She know you can't help what you see. None of us can help our powers. It's just who we are. If you were to go talk to her I'm sure you could patch things up. I know Warren did... but what I also mean to say is that I will totally understand if you decide that you want to go hang with them more. Although I can't say the same for Zack."

She said that last part in a rush all while throwing me a furtive look. I pretended I didn't hear what she had to say about Warren and Kate. In truth, I didn't want to know the details of it. Though I wouldn't admit it out loud I might have been harbouring/developing the teensiest of crushes in the pyrokinetic and the validation that he was more into my ex-best friend than me cut deep. How Layla knew, or may have guessed my unspoken feelings for Warren – which I would bet my life he would never mention to her – was another mystery that I wanted no light shedded on.

"Don't worry Lay. Me and you, I like to think we're tight," I linked arms with her and beamed, "you're like my best friend. Besides you know what they say. Once you go Zach you never go back."

_"Hey there Delilah  
I know times are getting hard  
But just believe me girl  
Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar  
We'll have it good  
We'll have the life we knew we would  
My word is good"_

* * *


	6. Nobody Knows You

A/N. Wow. So I have to apologize, I seem to do that a lot in my author's note but, well, I haven't update in exactly 3 months and 2 days. But to make up for that oversight I have... made this chapter longer (yay?). So not a lot of people read chapter 5, I think 86 was the number, and even smaller number of people reviewed [2 – **thanks Ember91 and Nelle07**. But this story has 1500+ hits! Can you believe it? That makes me happy, when I'm happy I write, and hopefully your figuring out how to make me write more faster right now.mm what else, cast pictures n my profile, and I don't own Finger Eleven.

I'll Keep Your Memory Vague – Finger Eleven

**Chapter 6. ****Nobody knows you, nobody knows you like I do**

How close are you allowed to get to your ex-best friends boyfriend? That was a question I was pondering as I walked over to Warren's apartment block. I had resolved myself to stay away, but while we were still hunting Patrick together, close proximity would be required. It was the first day of the new year and you know what they say, how you spend new year's day is how you spend the year. The problem with this belief was that the way things had been going between Warren and I, well, that would just make for a very awkward, tensions filled year.

But I mean this is high school right? Life is supposed to be tough, we're just supposed to be tougher - I was having a hard time being that just then. What with the attempted murder, the long nights sitting in the hospital, getting chewed out by Layla, getting side offers from my mother, and having to have shrapnel removed from my head; This wasn't one of my better years. I sharply inhaled a breath of cold air. I was just at the doors to Warren's building about to buzz him to let me up. I really wanted to avoid it, but I couldn't - it was too dangerous. It used to be about a petty criminal, and a school project, now it was about our lives. And faults be damned, we were both too stupid or stubborn to run to our parents, and teachers and let them know that we couldn't handle it. Not that they weren't, and still are suspicious about our/my story Warren's car.

_2 and a 1/2 Weeks __E__arlier._

Smart people bought their Christmas presents in November, October if they were really keen, like those people who collect ornaments from Hallmark. But I was none of those people. I always made plans to meet Layla at the mall, or walk down a store-populated street in search of gifts and I had gotten most of them, really, and I wasn't even sure if I needed these last two. Ok I lied, I knew these people were getting gifts for me, but I was looking for reasons to avoid shopping for _them._

I hate the way it sound, their names constantly paired together. It's almost like one word. So to avoid the hate, I refer to them, as them. I never thought I'd be the person who let a huge monster live inside them. A big green monster that over analyzed every situation, and every moment. Truly, I could not help it.

It hadn't been long before Katie had called me up. I went to her house. We ate, we laughed, we cried, we forgave, and then we confessed. My confession was made up, what I wanted to confess I couldn't, it felt like secret I would carry to my angst ridden high school grave. I was the criminal in this one, and Katie was the hero. She would be whisked away by her prince charming right after they slayed me – I was still waiting to see if that was going to happen, or had already. Anyways, then came her confession for the night, the first person she told – lucky me – about her re-instant love connection with Warren. I smiled and congratulated her. She wasn't the only one with that feeling, in my case it had just manifested itself in an instant kill connection.

Kate was a sight mimic. She could mimic powers she could see, like physical powers, mostly elemental. She had had an 'instant love connection' ever since Homecoming. It was the first Homecoming since Gwen Grayson so it had to be spectacular, just to make up for mistakes. Everyone was decked out to the nines and it was almost the end of the night, people were starting to head home but some stragglers persistently swayed along to some slow songs on the dance floor. I had been dancing with my boyfriend 'of the time, and Emily was about to go dance with her flavour of the month but nor before shoving Kate at the first available man. I think you know where this is going, She was so sorry about being pushed into Warren, her hands caught on fire. Warren grabbed her flaming hands and led her to the dance floor. Over the summer they dated, twice. And then nothing, till now. To be fair she was in a coma, not a lot of romantic possibilities in that state.

At the time I had thought the whole flame hands thing was cute. It made me happy to see her happy, now it just made me hollow. It wasn't that I was all hung on one kiss from Warren, it wasn't that good to begin with. Who am I kidding? In my limited experience it was spectacular. But that's beside the point, I was hung up on the possibilities from that kiss. Really, one date, I was just... curious. Even if it turned out badly I would know. At least. It wasn't like I loved him.

I was now at the end of the mall, I had walked by all the stores at least once. There was a novelty gift shop about three feet from, and it seemed to me like it was a suitable place to get their gifts. In minutes I had found a gift for Kate, a mini electric blanket, the girl had the worst circulation, she was always complaining about being cold. Warren's gift would prove m ore difficult, especially since I had no idea what kind of gift he was giving me. I had already seen Kate and Warren give me gifts, but I had only seen myself open Kate's present.

I was wandering the aisles of the store absent mindedly. And I accidently bumped into someone. Three guesses who.

"Hey, watch where your – "

"Hi Warren," I said, now looking up at him from the floor. He picked up my bags and helped me up. His face was intolerably close to mine. "How are you?"

"Uh, I'm okay."

And now there was tangible silence between us, and I was avoiding looking at his eyes by staring at point slightly above his nose.

"So what are you doing here?"

"Just finishing up some Christmas shopping"

Warren just looked. But not at me, actually he was looking everywhere but me.

"Warren, look that day... at my house"

"Bethany" He sighed.

I reflexively backed up, into a shelf of stuffed animals. Warren was approximately 2cm away from me at this point, and I could smell his trademark sulphurous residue. He placed his hands on my hips and leaned forward. I wasn't sure if this was allowed but I wasn't exactly stopping him. I wasn't sure if I should say something, but my lips wouldn't part. I wasn't sure if I should have leant forward and sealed our distance with a kiss but it was too late to be sure because I did. What I was sure of, was that I hadn't expected him to pull me against him, and grip my waist that way.

I needed air. He pulled away. We looked each other in the eyes.

Whoops.

Forsaking Kate's gift I grabbed the bags I had and walked out of the store, Warren didn't try and stop me. I walked straight outside and leaned against the coarse brick wall of the mall. After a few deep breaths of cold air, I looked towards the sky and smiled.

Best mistake ever.

_1 and ½ Weeks Earlier._

The Paper Lantern really was a nice place. I understood why Layla and Will had come here so often to eat, well at least they did, Will had finally broken it off with Layla, the poor girl. She didn't even know he had been cheating on her with Emily. The way they made it seem, it was like they had just started to date a couple days ago.

The whole situation made me uneasy. Not just because I had been keeping their secret for them from Layla, but also because I began to realize that it was very similar to the situation that Warren, Katie, and I were in. I was Emily, kind of, I was the other girl. And Katie, she was-would be victimized, the poor girl woke up from a coma and she finds out her new boyfriend is cheating on her with her somewhat best friend. It was hard to hate Emily when I thought about it like that, we were both in the situation. We were irresistibly attracted to Warren and Will. I didn't even know when it started, or how it happened, but I couldn't keep myself away from him.

I was currently sitting in a booth in the Paper Lantern waiting for Warren to finish up his shift so that we could get along with our project. We had met twice since our mall encounter, and both times I had resisted throwing myself at him. It had been tough getting him to come meet with me though, I'm sure he must think me some desperate, needy, girl with a crush – to be fair that's exactly how I was acting, but it isn't who I am. The entire situation filled me with guilt. It wasn't Kate's fault that the school body had labelled me 'social pariah' since she was in coma. In fact, now that she was better people were nicer to me, when I would run into classmates they would actually stop, chat, and smile at me. There was no reason for us not to be friends; this realization had given me more determination to make things right between us by making things platonic with Warren.

That however, was easier said than done. Every time I phoned his house he would tell me he was busy, so I would work on plans for Patrick's apprehension and put them in his mailbox. This new level of desperateness must have made him take pity on me because after the first few plan outlines he called me. We always met in the afternoon, in very public, populated places. I even had a strategy for face to face dealings with him. I would look at his clothing; he generally wore plain shirts and pants, no brands or anything. Perfectly vague, he's vague, forgettable. That was the thought train I tried to ride, so far it was working. I just had to try, to separate him from everything we do.

The things was part of me didn't want to do any of that because then it wasn't just Katie that was keeping us apart. It was us.

Bad thoughts. Bad thoughts. Back to school. Warren was just finishing up his shift, so I began to re-organize the new clippings I had bought with me. Ever since Halloween, well Patrick had been getting sloppy; maybe because he was threatened now that we were after him, or maybe because he was just angry. He hadn't done anything major, but his petty crimes had escalated in nature. His powers allowed his to make small objects spontaneous combust, ergo his title 'the combuster.' Before we had encountered him, he had committed crimes in a very consistent way. Combust the security alarm system, go in and rob some key pricey pieces, exit. It was bit of a messy job getting away clean though, because every time he would combust things he'd leave an blacky-yellow oil like residue on the area of the combusted object. This was, I assumed, the way that PIRRC had easily identified him to begin with. Lately though, he didn't follow his recipe for theft, he's been getting more... aggressive. In his latest venture, he'd attempted to steal an artefact from the Maxville Museum and ended up holding a guard hostage. I knew that since our very first kiss, and our separating of professional ways, Warren and I had both made multiple failed attempts at capturing Patrick. I couldn't say for Warren but I knew I would usually come out of these attempts with a few minor injuries. Apprehension really was not a one person job.

"Bethany." Warren greeted as he slid into the booth.

"Warren."

"So what have we got here?" He grabbed the folder of newspaper clippings.

"The same stuff we had to begin with, the only difference is now he's more hostile and careless. A few days ago he held a security guard hostage so... he's escalating to violence endangering civilians. I think we should really work at getting him now, before he actually hurts someone." Way to use class terminology.

"I agree," Warren looked up at me, I made a point of avoiding eye contact with him, "I was looking over the plans you gave me and I think that last one could really work. If we use those headsets and you can lead him away from the public towards me, then I can subdue him, and we shouldn't have any trouble if you can see everything ahead of time right?"

"Right." That was the other things I had been doing with all my spare time, working on developing my powers. Sidekicks didn't have that kind of opportunity at Sky High because it was assumed that you would be assisting your hero use their powers, there was no Sidekick Power Development class. So I had been practising by myself at home, and I found that I had surprising control over it. All I had to do was concentrate and I could see about 5 minutes ahead. Short term sight for quick decisions. I could also see farther when I really pushed myself, but that was energy draining, and I most of what I saw was... chopped up. Like a movie being edited on forward. Scene, scene, scene, end. I didn't know when, where, or what, I just saw images flash through my mind. Like when I saw me holding a couple of Dvd's with Katie. Rational assumption told me that she had given me Dvd's for Christmas. I had also seen Warren and I, but all I saw there was him holding a gift out to me.

This thought made me blush, and I fidgeted because I betraying myself and Katie with those kinds of thoughts. Warren was still talking but I wasn't listening, I could figure out what would happen if I really pushed myself.

"So tomorrow then?"

"What about tomorrow?"

Warren looked at me incredulously, "I was just saying tomorrow when he's on his way to work, that's when we should try, no more putting it off."

"Oh okay, tomorrow works fine for me."

"Okay, we can stake out his house at seven then." Warren moved out of the both and ducked into the staff only section of the Paper Lantern. I began to gather up all the papers and plans I had bought with me. I was pulling open the door when Warren stopped me.

"Need a ride?"

I had walked here, and there weather had gotten significantly worse since. How could I refuse?

-x-

"Thank you Warren."

"It's no problem, you should be walking around in this weather." He gesture with a tilted of his head toward the snow caked windshield.

I tried to take off my seatbelt but it was stuck, I kept yanking on it but it wouldn't com out. Great. Warren leaned over and gave it a couple tugs, before he kind of ripped it out.

"Sorry, it's an old car."

Deja vu. Warren. Close proximity. Bad. He leaned into me this time, but I turned my head away.

"Warren what are we doing?" I asked him softly.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Look I don't know okay? Katie is great. She's beautiful, and she's happy, and she's caring, and she wants me to open up, and she talks, and she asks questions. But you, you are not her type of beautiful, you're moody, you're sensitive, and you're quiet. You don't open up, and you don't talk or ask. You listen."

I looked down, what was I expected to say to that? I had no idea, so I didn't respond; I just opened the door and got out of his car. Halfway up the walkway to my house I turned around, Warren was still parked there and he was staring at me. There was something dripping down one of the back windows of his car. It looked kind of like... oil. There was some more of it on his car's hood.

The time it took for me to figure out what was happening was the time it took for Warren's car to catch on fire, and explode.

Everything went black.

_"__This won't break your heart_

_But I just think it could_

_Cause I haven't tried as hard as I should_

_To separate you from everything I do_

_But I would never want to come between us two_

_I'll keep your memory vague"_

* * *

A/N. Woo so next chapter will be average length or slightly shorter but it will cover what happened from the explosion to New Year's Day, and maybe some stuff after that as well. 


	7. Interval: Hospital Recapture

**A/N: **Okay, so this is better right? No 3 month absence? I thought it was pretty good. Apparently you all did for last chapter too because there were some kind reviews, **Nelle07, bookworm2001, Ember91,** and my two anonymous reviewers Kelly & HappyReviewer – thanks!

Note: There is no song for this chapter, and the title of this chapter is not from the same song as all the other chapter titles, or any chapter in fact, because this chapter is supposed to cover the missed time from chapter 6, and therefore fits into it.

**Chapter 7.****Recapture**

A look at the week of intermediate time in chapter 6.

_Day One_

Hospitals had always made me uncomfortable. Really, nothing ever good had ever happened in hospital. It was a dreary place. People dying, people sick. Morbidity hung in over patients and visitors like a blanket that smothered the air. The building encased hopelessness, from the after life effects of the lights, to the sterilized effects of the rooms.

I woke up in one of these rooms. My vision as swimming and as I tried to lift my head I felt a stinging pain in my head. I saw a nurse run into the room; she took a quick look at my chart and then started adjusting things. I saw her turn and inject something into a bag filled with fluid.

- x -

_Day Two_

The second time I woke up I had more control over my motor functions. When I rolled my head to the side I saw my mother of all people sitting there, on a chair fast asleep. I wondered what time it was but I couldn't see a clock anywhere. I couldn't find the energy to lift my arm and my voice felt it like it hadn't been used in ages. The most I could do was rasp or groan.

I wasn't sure if I should be flattered that my mother had come all the way from the sunny state of California to see me, or if I should be insulted that I had to hospitalized for her to want to come visit. It had been to long since I'd last seen her. Her short blonde locks laid softly on her face and her head was resting on her folded arms. We looked nothing like each other, my mother was more the feminine beauty type, whereas I was the tomboy. When I first developed my powers I used to think I was adopted.

Everything was wrong. So wrong. I had been using my powers with for increased periods of time and frequency the week earlier. I couldn't be sure if it was because I was I over using my powers, or because I was getting sloppy and had stopped paying attention. Or maybe it wasn't my fault at all. I had been told a long time ago that the future is constantly changing. It is based on the decision and reactions of each individual. Every time someone changes their mind the future changes. Had Patrick decided to take a more homicidal route of action? Every time I look at the future and act on it, it changes. Had Patrick's course of action changed into one more dangerous every time I had looked ahead to plan his apprehension? There was no way to tell, but I knew I would have to take a break from my powers and start to do things the old fashioned way.

There was no way to alert anyone that I was awake, so I decided to just lay back and fell asleep again. I would have to wait till morning to find out what had happened.

_Day Three_

Something wet was pressing against my lips, and I woke with a start.

"Hello Dearie, welcome to Maxville General."

I nodded in response. From experience I knew that I was in the secret basement of Maxville General dedicated to the treatment of supers. I felt a bit sorry for the attendants here, most of them lived here underground and hadn't ventured to the surface in many years.

My nurse was sickeningly pale. Compared to her I imagine I must have seemed the picture of health. She grazed her index finger across my forehead and I couldn't suppress a shudder.

"Well looks like you're just about ready to go. Maybe just a few more hours of observation," she smiled kindly, " and you have few visitors here, I'll just send one of them in to keep you company."

A few minutes after the nurse bustled out of the door, my mother entered. I was surprised my father had allowed her to see me before him.

"Hey baby"

"Mom"

She took note of the tone of my voice when I said that. It was an unused word for me, I was wasn't comfortable speaking it. I mean, the woman had practically ditched me once she figured out I had powers. Yet, here she was years later trying to play house, or hospital.

"Look, honey, I know his might be a little... awkward."

What was awkward was when she put her hand her on mine. She wasn't quite sure where to place it and I could see her hesitation despite how well she hid it.

She began to go into some long winded explanation about how she'd been writhing with guilt ever since she sent me away. Now she was here to make amends. She told me about her lovely new house, and her lovely new job, and her lovely new life. All of which had been constructed in the years of my absence.

"That's great, I'm glad you're still happy there."

"Really?" She flushed with pride and continued her rambling. This time the words came quicker and with the tiny encouragement I had offered her, more confidently, "Well, the thing is, I've been looking into this whole powers business. You know there's a nice school back home, and it's not in the sky either. And all your old friends are there honey! And I've got the papers and everything all set up for whenever you're ready –"

She stopped. She must have finally looked at the incredulous look on my face. She finds some super school and she thinks I'll drop my entire life here to move back there with her? Unbelievable. I mean sure, I didn't have any friends left. But I kind of had Layla and Mag, and I was acquainted Zach, Ethan, and Will. Besides my Dad was here... and Warren was here. Even if he didn't need me to be here for him, I did.

"Look I won't push this on you. But I've talked about this to your Dad and I'm not looking for an answer now." She took a fat envelope out of her purse and placed it on the stand next to my bed, "But if you're curious there are some pictures of the house in there, and some pictures of your room too."

She got up and spared the door a glance. Offering me a smile, a kiss, and mumbling something about my father she exited the room.

Like this was some sort of relations parade, my father traipsed in next. At least this was a welcome visit.

He smiled and walked up to my bed, I rolled my head to the side so I could get a good look at him. He looked scruffy. Poor guy probably had been eating tv dinners without me to cook for him.

"Hi Dad"

"Hey Kid. Banged your self up pretty good huh?" He stroked my forehead, "the Docs say your pyro friend must have lost control or something. Something like his powers accelerated and flared and that caused the car to explode."

"Oh. How is he?"

"Don't worry, he's fine. And you'll be too. You're just here till the end of the week for observations, then you can come home. Whichever home you choose." He cleared his throat gruffly.

"Dad, I wouldn't, I mean I'm not about to-"

"It's ok. Whatever you choose is okay. Your mother and I talked about it." He eyed the photo bundle surreptitiously.

"I actually have to get back to work sweetie, I'm sorry. But you've been out quite awhile."

"It's okay"

With another forehead kiss he was off.

When he left I had expected another visitor to continue the procession. No one came in, I guess I wasn't as popular as I thought. I couldn't stop thinking about what my dad has just told me. They didn't even know it was Patrick. They didn't know it was a villain. Everyone thought Warren has just lost control of his powers. Maybe Warren's powers and Patrick's are connected. Like Warren can create fire, but Patrick can control it. Patrick's power was combustion... flame combustion... explosion combustion. Would Patrick be able to control Warren's powers? If so, that meant Warren would not be able to power up to fight him. My powers weren't useful offensively, so we'd pretty much be like civilians trying to take down a villain. The more I thought about the more it made sense, and the worse I felt. I was practically sick to my stomach thinking about the mess Warren and I were in.

I was in the middle of mentally cursing Principal Powers for dealing Warren and I our villain when I heard a soft knock at my door.

"Come in" I said softly. Probably too softly to hear. Layla came in anyways. She looked quite different since I'd last seen her. Somehow she seemed older, maybe a bit wiser. Wordlessly she glided over to my bedside and pulled up the chair. Once she has settled herself she looked at me, cleared her throat, and began.

"I have to say some stuff to you, and I need you to listen. I... I just don't want to be interrupted, okay?" I nodded my ascent. She sighed and looked down.

"So you know Will and I broke up, in fact, you probably knew we were going to before we even did. And that has nothing to do with your powers, Will told me Emily saw you and him one night. But you knew, you knew and you didn't tell me." She looked at me with her big brown eyes, she looked at me desperately like she was trying to see the good in my actions, "you had so many chances and I just can't see why... look I didn't come here to yell, or to scream at you. I'm sure you had your reasons. It just hurt, I thought we were friends."

At this I didn't know what to say. I thought we were friends too. I wanted to be her friend, really I did. Before, I thought I was being her friend, by not telling her, by protecting her from the pain. That's what friends do right? They protect you. Just like heroes.

I was a lousy hero; it made sense that I would be a lousy friend too.

I didn't know how to put this in audible words for Layla stayed sealed, and with silence to assure her of my remorse, she continued.

"But like I said, I'm not here about me, or Will, or Emily," She said Emily's name like it was a brand of particularly fine animal fur, "I'm here about Warren."

This, had caught my interest the most. While my father had glossed over the medical condition of Warren, I was sure that Layla would not spare me the details I craved. I needed to know how he was, where he was. The worst thing about it was, when my dad said he was okay I was a little disappointed. Some minute part of me wanted him to be hurt, to injured so he could stop being my partner, and he could stop being in my life. I wanted it to be an easy way for me to rid myself of the treacherous feeling that caused me to betray my friends. When had I become this person?

"He never asked me to come and do this, but I thought I should anyways," She looked away and blushed, "and I would appreciate it if you didn't mention this to him. He'd be angry if he knew I came to do this, and I think you owe it to me to keep at least one secret for me. I can see what's between you and Warren; the way you act around each other, the way you orient yourself when he's present, and I don't like it. He's with Katie now. You should accept that. They way you pursue him... well you don't exactly pursue him, but you make yourself available. And you know he's attracted to you. She's your friend! Your making yourself into this, cheating figure. You're... 'the other girl' and you shouldn't be. You owe it to yourself, and to Warren and Katie. I know how it feels to be cheated on."

By this point of her speech we couldn't make eye contact with each other. I was very aware that everything she was saying was true. The same sentiments she was expressing now were the ones that had been weaselling their way into my conscience for awhile now, but I had selfishly ignored them. My face felt hot, I could only imagine what shade of embarrassment it was. Layla herself seemed flustered from having to behave in such an heated and resentful way, completely opposite to her forgiving care-free nature. It didn't suit her.

She began to gather her stuff and nodded a farewell to me. I wondered if this would be the last time we could freely talk and if our encounters afterward would be filled with awkward silences and wandering glances. Before I could gather up the courage to make a sort of feeling vocalized she had left, the door shutting with a loud thud after her.

The silence left me with a lot of time to think. It had been a long day.

_Day Four_

I woke feeling groggy, as I turned lifted my head and stretched my weary limbs I checked the clock. It was twelve-thirty in the afternoon, half my day had gone to waste. I had spent a lot of time brooding after the one sided conversation between Layla and I yesterday. I came to the same conclusion as her and I made a early new year's resolution, to keep my space.

I never really knew how I managed to get myself in those 'situations' with Warren or why I acted the way I did. I believe it was something along the lines of taking the opportunity that was presenting itself to you. Well, it was high time I learned to say 'no' to that opportunity. I had resolved my self to display more self restraint and control when I saw Warren. And after our senior project was done, that was it. It was over, so we would be too.

With my mind set and my visit with Morpheus over, I noticed there was a folded sheet of thick paper on my bed stand. The burnt corner was a clear indication of who it was from so I picked it up and read it. Typical, he hadn't even signed it.

_Bethany,_

_Hope your okay. __Pyros__ can't burn. __When you get out come to 11845 25 __st__ I have a plan. _

I wondered how early he had been here, and how long he stayed. Best to stop that train of thought; if he has a plan all the better, this needed to end. That would be a good time to tell him my theory of the potential uselessness of his powers. He'd probably be angry, more at the situation than me I suppose. When you're a pyrokinetic you rarely feel useless. Warren would be able to get in touch with his inner sidekick. This thought brought a smirk to my lips, I remembered how he'd made casual references to the offensive inability of my powers in a fight.

The nurse bustled in and announced the doctor wanted to see me.

- x -

After I had been biometrically scanned – multiple times I might add – I was finally released. With lots of medication, crutches, and air castes for my disposal. I was told to spend two more days bed resting at home, and after that I was free to get myself into the normal teenage scrapes that would be expected of an carefree young woman. Or so said the doctor.

I don't quite think that the word normal would have applied to any part of my life in the last couple years. But if by teenage scrapes he meant 'go get fried by some villain' then I hope he knew I was taking his advice to heart.

_Day Seven (New Year's)_

_How close are you allowed to get to your ex-best friends boyfriend? That was a question I was pondering as I walked over to Warren's apartment block. I had resolved myself to stay away, but while we were still hunting Patrick together, close proximity would be required. It was the first day of the __new year__ and you know what they say, how you spend new year's day is how you spend the year. The problem with this belief was that the way things had been going between Warren and I, well, that would just make for a very awkward, tensions filled year._

_But I mean this is high school right? Life is supposed to be tough, we're just supposed to be tougher - I was having a hard time being that just then. What with the attempted murder, the long nightssitting in the hospital, getting chewed out by __Layla__, getting side offers from my mother, and having to have shrapnel removed from my head; This wasn't one of my better years. I sharply inhaled a breath of cold air. I was just at the doors to Warren's building about to buzz him to let me up. I really wanted to avoid it, but I couldn't - it was too dangerous. It used to be about a petty criminal, and a school project, now it was about our lives. And faults __be__ damned, we were both too stupid or stubborn to run to our parents, and teachers and let them know that we couldn't handle it. _

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, so this last italicized bit, is the into to last chapter [6 just to re-cap for you all. Glad I made this update before school started, I forsee about 1-2 chapters after this chapter [7. And, I updated my lj, so if you have an lj check it out! Yes, that was a shameless plug. 


	8. Interval: Recapture Peace

**A/N:** Ha! Surprise -_ 2 updates, 1 day_! Here is a short short bit from Warren's perspective, terribly written as I can barely begin to imagine how that boy must think. But here is my holiday gift to you! I hope you enjoyed your vacation. This would take place the morning of _Day __Four _from chapter 6. Also, this does not count toward my earlier prediction of 1-2 chapter beings left.

**Chapter 7.**** Recapture Part ****Deux**

_Warren's Perspective_

I was not a talkative guy. I was not a wordsmith. I'm more of the guy that acts, and does. Usually with aggression, usually with my powers, and that gets me into shit. Like the mess I'm in now.

I'm not like most guys. I don't cheat on my girlfriend, that's what dirt bags do. My mother taught me better than that, but when some chick is practically throwing herself at you what are you supposed to do?

Okay, so she wasn't throwing herself at me. She was more falling at me, or on me. But there was no denying the sexual tensions when she was around, we had chemistry. And that chemistry was the problem. I didn't want to hurt Katie, but I knew I would if whatever with Bethany and I didn't stop.

I was constantly hurting people, disappointing them, with my behaviour. It was never intentional, but it happened, Not recently though. I guess you could say the whole homecoming thing changed me. Or at least, changed people's general idea of my persona. In the aftermath of the dance I suddenly found myself no longer walking through half deserted hallways, or being provoked at every corner. I had friends.

It was quiet; I found Peace.

I'd been on a few random dates with some girls, Katie being one of those girls. She was okay, kind of bland at first like the rest of them. She would say something earnest and because I wouldn't burst out smiling or laughing, she'd cover it up with a snide sarcastic comment, usually self deprecating. After her friend was attacked she really opened up to me though, which was unusual because most of the time I was the one learning to open up. I found I like the role reversal, and I wasn't about to take it all back and throw it in her face so she could shut herself down again. Not on a chance. Not for the psychic - even though she had her moments.

Regardless of my need to distance myself from her to salvage my end of my relationship with Katie, I went to go visit her at the hospital. I tried my best to get there early hoping she been under enough medication to keep her sleeping through the early hours of the morning, luckily I was correct.

Bethany was all tucked in under sheets and soundly asleep. Looking at her I was grateful for the partial indestructibility that prevented me from the harm she had incurred. I saw the thick bandage protruding from under her head where they had to remove the shrapnel of my car. I saw the IV, and the bandages that prevented her from curling herself up in the sheets. It was a good thing there were no mirrors in the room, maybe by the time she would get to one the nasty bruise in her cheekbone would subside.

I wasn't a comforting person, with the exception of wonder boy and the hippie people wouldn't come to me for help or solace from their problems – although they usually just me as a sound box for their issues. Even though she was sleeping, and any attempts on my part would go unnoticed, I was unable to offer her any consolation; I would even know how to attempt it.

It was all I could –and knew how to do – to take the note I had written her on the bus ride here out of my pocket. I burned it in place of a signature and left it on her bedside table before I left.


	9. The Cost For Her Was Way To Much To Bear

AN: Okay, definitely my longest chapter to date. I hope you all enjoy it. There will only be one more chapter after this, and it should be up fairly soon-ish. Definitely about only a couple days wait. & The song the chapter titles are from is by _The Classic Crime – Say The Word_, and I do not own it.

**Chapter 8.**** T****he ****C****ost ****F****or****H****er****Was ****W****ay ****T****o ****M****uch ****T****o ****B****ear**

"Warren... you haven't said anything"

"What do you expect me to say? If you're right, if he has control over my powers I'm useless. I can't do anything, you might as well chase after him by yourself." Warren grumpily answered. He turned his head to look at the wall and even though his long hair shielded his face from my scrutiny I had the distinct impression that he was scowling.

What he hadn't said was you might as well go chase after him by yourself_ like before_; before when he was being an ass hole about the whole thing. Kind of like he is now – it's pretty déjà vu.

Besides, we all know how gloriously well those efforts turned out.

I exhaled sharply, I was fresh out of the hospital and I came all the way to his house, under his suggestion, so that we could finally end this and move on. But Warren was making no effort to help me plan, if anything it's like he was slowing the process.

I was exasperated and he was cranky, without any fresh ideas all we would do was sit here and stare at each other. We both had a good idea about how that would turn out and we both were trying to ignore whatever past tensions existed among us.

I was sitting on the floor letting my back lean against his couch, on the opposite end of the room he was lounging in a recliner. On the floor between us lay an open case file and news clippings of Patrick's past heists. Maps where we'd drawn out his past escape routes, and a map to plan our offensive.

It had been the offensive planning that had halted our progress. I had to mention to Warren my theory of Patrick's ability to control his powers, while he's accepted the logic behind the deduction he took the news terribly. For a hero like himself, I imagined that he'd defined himself by his powers, just like the kids at school had defined him by his father. Without the powers he didn't know what he was, who he was, what to do with himself. And while I could understand that and feel bad an all, I was a sidekick therefore, constantly treated by the majority of the super-powered community to be only slightly more useful than a civilian.

"Look it shouldn't even matter, we can still try and tailor this to go our way!" I exclaimed.

"How can it not matter?" He flared up, "I'm gonna be all but fucking powerless and you're..." He trailed off.

I lifted my chin and eyebrows defiantly daring him to finish to sentence. When he failed to continue I asked, "I'm what exactly?"

"Nothing, never mind. How are we going to do this?"

Sighing, I pulled the map of Patrick's past escape routes before me and gestured him to come closer. We leaned over the map and his gaze followed my gesturing.

"Okay, so we know his house is right here, and all the places he's been so far have been in 10 block radius of it. He's pretty much just hitting them systematically, alternating between these two streets right here and he only has two more jewellery stores left that he hasn't been too. He'll probably go for this one right here because it fits his pattern and because the weather is so dismally bad it would make for a shorter and easier escape for him. So, the pattern we've picked out also tells us that he would either strike on a Tuesday or Thursday evening. So tomorrow is Tuesday and we'll stake out the back alley behind the jewellery store and herd him into this abandoned warehouse – which will minimize any public property destruction – and then if you can distract him or hold him down I'll cuff him with the neutralizer. "

"Fine. Tomorrow at 11 in the morning. Don't be late."

I was taken aback by his icy tone and overall gruff attitude. We had put that plan together, and we just needed to execute it. There was no need for him to be such a pain just because he couldn't use his powers. I briefly entertained the thought of 'Warren Peace – Hero Support' in my mind's eye while I gathered up all of my stuff and made for the door. The jerk was still sitting on the floor staring at the map

He wasn't even going to see me out house? I huffed and pulled on my coat, he looked up and I threw him the dirtiest look I could muster and then walked out.

I wasn't sure if he was intentionally trying to distance himself or if he really was that upset about his power restrictions. There was no excuse for his behaviour though; it just gave me another excuse for why anything I could have ever day dreamed about us would never have worked out.

As I trudged my way home through the snow ridden streets of Maxville I thought about my state of affairs. My broken friendships were nothing to be happy about. When had I turned into such a hormonal bitch? Why was I unable to keep my hands off Warren... well I succeeded pretty well just now, but earlier when it counted, I didn't. If I was going to die tomorrow would I be content? The answer was a definite no. I had to do some thing, I had to get my friends back. Especially Layla, and by association Magenta – both of them were people that I had used and lied too, and both were people that were there for me when I thought no one else was. Maybe I should start keeping a list of people I had to apologize too for things I had done – like when you're in alcoholics anonymous except I would be in 'Temperamental Teens' and it definitely was not anonymous.

I had come to the resolution that there was no time like the present to mend metaphorical broken fences so I threw off my winter gear and got out my stationary. On the top of my list was Layla, she seemed like the type of person who would appreciate a heartfelt letter considering she ignored my phone calls and I was too much of a coward to go to her house and ambush her. Of course, I had an advantage doing this because every time I decided to write something I used my powers to see the reaction on her face when she read it. The response was mostly good. Was a cheater? Yes. But I was also desperate – I missed her, I missed having friends in general.

My powers had really grown since the beginning of the year when I'd only get the odd flash to warn me off something. The more I used them the easier it got to bring them on. You'd think that with the ability to see the future I wouldn't be so much of screw up. I think the problem was that I was getting to complacent with the 'predicted' outcomes of my actions, forgetting that every time someone changed their mind, the future changed with it.

One thing I hoped would now change was the outcome of tomorrows stakeout. I saw everything happening perfectly as planned, like it was scripted. Easy takedown, easy apprehension. And then it was over.

- x-

I was fidgeting in my seat. Warren's car was old and he had the heat cranked up to the max since I'd strictly forbid him to use his powers even the slightest. His natural aversion to cold or lukewarm led him to turn the inside of his car – that we were currently sitting, or staked out in – very uncomfortable, especially in spandex. What must it feel like if he were to power up? Burning rubber. I hoped his suit his flammable, mine too come to think of it. Warren as the hero had the final nod on the costumes and I found myself worrying about my flammability, I don't know if he remembered that I wasn't fire retardant when he put the material request through. Neither of us had worn our super suits before and they were decidedly uncomfortable but we didn't want to risk losing Patrick's tail to do a quick change.

Warren had sculpted Kevlar plates like armour covered in deep burgundy spandex, with a burning flame emblem in bright crimson on his left shoulder. I say sculpted spandex because I wasn't sure if he actually had those abs or had the Kevlar sculpted so it would look like he did – it was a common suggestion for some... less built heroes. I had the feeling his were real. My costume was the color inverse of Warren's. It was completely crimson with a smoke emblem in deep burgundy on my left shoulder – completely in spandex of course, much to my chagrin but Warren refused to allow me to wear anything else stating I was trying to upheave years of 'tradition.' I told him that he was being a chauvinistic jerk. The costume made me feel like a cow for more than one reason. The smoke emblem and the colours were like brand – attaching me to Warren wherever I would go. Together we were the Arsonist and the Smoke-Seer. Can't you just see me trying to read divinations from the steam that Warren radiated?

"Would you stop moving already? You're driving me crazy"

"I'm driving you crazy? I'm going crazy! Do you know hot it is in here? I'm wearing all spandex."

Warren gave me a side look and smirked at the windshield. "I know"

My face matched my costume. "Look I'm dying here, would it kill you to turn down the damn heat?"

"It might kill me... wishful thinking?"

"Warren" I growled, I was getting testy, "Not everyone in this car is a pyrokinetic. I don't maintain an average body temperature of 109."

"So? What do you want an award for being average?"

"I want you to turn own the heat!" I wasn't sure that I looked like right then but it must have been something awful because Warren gave a shrewd glance decided I couldn't take anymore and fiddled with some switches on the drivers side. I felt the temperature drop.

"Happy?"

"Ecstatic" I deadpanned. We both fell into silence and I closed my eyes and let my head to roll to the side of the headrest. I had never been on a stakeout before and I hoped to never be in one again. When I graduated and hero I worked with would just have to wait for the trouble to start before chasing down the villain.

"Bethany?"

"Mmmph?"

"How can you be sure this is going to work?"

"I can't be completely sure. The future isn't set in stone Warren, there is no such things as fate. We craft the future with every decision we make, and every time we change our minds the future changes as well. It changes when you change."

"How do you know Patrick hasn't changed his mind?"

"Well, I haven't gotten any visions as of yet, and I was kind of scanning for them like putting a vision radar up this morning and I didn't get anything. I think we'll be ok."

We fell into silence again. I wasn't sure about him but I was nervous with anticipation, my entire body was fight or flight. To calm myself I began to gently search the future, it was a lot like scanning for radio stations you just kept looking till you got something fuzzy an the fiddling till it became clear.

I saw the warehouse we hoped to lead him into, I saw stairs, I saw Patrick on his knees subdued but maniacally eyeing Warren spewing death threats, and I saw a police office walk in front of him. I wasn't sure what it all meant but past experience taught me that it would become clear when I was in the situation.

"Bethany get out of the car. He's here."

We both stepped out at the same and Patrick had yet to notice us, but as heroes in costume it was against out beliefs to sneak up on him.

"Stop criminal!" Warren called out. Patrick paused in the back alley to look at us, probably trying o recognize which heroes we were. He pieced together what he saw and he threw black his head and laughed.

"Well well, looks like our little heroes ready to catch the big bad villain" he said mockingly, "you even sewed together costumes, wonderful!"

He threw down the two bags of loot he had to the side and gestured at us to come at him. Warren and I exchanged looks, I had seen this coming. I approached him from the side cautiously and slowly while Warren ran straight at him. He threw a punch at Patrick who dodged to the side, and I slid down and roundhoused him so he fell to his feet, I slapped a neutralizer on his wrist before he managed to scurry away. He looked pissed now, and menacing in his all black costume. Patrick took off in the direction of the abandoned warehouse and Warren and I followed after putting a call through to the local authorities for them to meet us there.

Warren got to the warehouse before I did and rushed through the open door, Patrick was in the middle of the floor and Warren rushed at him. Patrick swung at him but Warren ducked and tried to come up at Patrick but he elbowed Warren sharply in the abdomen, and Warren crouched. Patrick saw his opening and punched Warren so his head snapped to the side, and got a couple shots at his abdomen again with Warren trying to block. I came up to Patrick's side and hooked my leg around his right foot and pulled he leaned over and I flipped him over my arm on to his front. Warren and I practically threw ourselves on him to keep his thrashing figure pinned to the ground.

Job well done, I thought.

The Police arrived shortly after and Warren helped an officer lift Patrick off the ground, he was barely struggling now and I was grateful. I knew that even through our reinforced suits Warren and I would be sporting some battle bruises for the remainder of the week.

Warren came to my side and squeezed my shoulder, he went to go bring the Police up to speed on who we were and show them our heroes license, something the sidekick was not permitted to do. For lack of anything to do I watched the officer read Patrick his rights and the riot act and he made to pull his cuffs out of belt loop. There was a maniacal glint in Patrick's eyes.

I flashed.

_Patrick lunged for the officer and grabbed his gun out of __it's__ holster and push the officer to the ground. Why hadn't they cuffed him yet? He pointed and shot at Warren with deadly accuracy. I hear__d__ the three shot__s__ echo in my ears and all the other sounds was blocked out as Patrick __was rushed by the remaining officers on the scene. He was finally detained. I ran to Warren's side and put my hands t__o__ his chest, he was bleeding out badly. I watched as my tears fell and mixed in with the blood that was pooling around his __wounds;__ I had thought he was indestructible. _I had to do something to stop this ---

_I ran towards Patrick as he got hold of the gun. We struggled and he got a couple shots off, but I couldn't see where. I turned my head and a police officer bleeding on the asphalt. Warren was outraged and had fully powered up, but in my moment of distraction Patrick manoeuvred my hand to swipe the neutralizers on the wrist. My biometrics disabled it and it fell to the floor. I could hear Patrick laughing and saw the horror on Warren face as Patrick took control of his powers. I could feel the beginning of an explosion comin__g on ----_

I was running out of time Patrick shoved the officer to the ground and took at aim at Warren. His fingers pulled the trigger while I simultaneously jumped. I could feel the impact of the three bullets as my body convulsed mid air and then fell to the floor. My head rolled to the side and I could see Patrick being subdued and secured; good. In the back of my mind I vaguely registered that people were crowding around me and that I was gasping for air. My vision was getting blurry so I closed my eyes. It wasn't at all like I imagined – dying that is. I thought it would be cold but I could feel an unnatural warmth spreading through my body liked I had been submerged in a flame bath. I wonder why that is?

_Cause__ I am lost for words, the cost for her_

_Was way to much to bear_

_You're not perfect, but I don't care_

* * *

A/N: Okay so to clear up any possible confusion the bit in italics are two vision that Bethany has while she is looking into Patricks eyes. There is the initial future and then she changes her mind about how to act so the outcome changes and then that doesnt work either. While she is having her visions Patrick is already getting hold of the gun so she decides to just act. 


	10. The Epitaph, The End

**A/N:** So this is it. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who read any part of this story, to everyone that reviewed, especially to **Ember91 **whose comments always served to encourage me to continue on and write more, this chapter is dedicated to you. Sorry to say, there won't be any dialogue in this chapter, but at the end I promise a song list for all of the chapters, and the full lyrics to the song that the story name is from, at the very least read the bolded bit which explains the title choice.

I had a few comments about Bethany 'almost dying' and I'd like to explain why I killed her:

No one had ever killed their OC before [that I have read in Sky High, I wanted to be original.

To make sure she wouldn't be a Mary Sue.

I need it for characterization. I wanted to show she had restraint, and backbone. Their relationship is the one where it's kind of strange magnetism where in a different time and place it would have worked out but not in this reality. They tried to fight for it in their own ways and lost. It's tragic and that's life.

**C****hapter 10.**** The Epitaph, t****he End.**

It would have been a perfect day in Bethany's opinion. She didn't like it when it was too sunny, the brightness was always welcome, but the heat felt smothering to her and made her nauseous. Today the sky was lit up, bright blue with a few wisps of cloud painted across the horizon. A light breeze provided a welcome cool sensation to the people gathered. It shook the leaves and waved the grass. Made the proceedings easier to sit through, for most people at least.

The young pyrokonetic felt very uncomfortable. He was facing a torrent of emotions and couldn't decide which one should be left to take control. First he was angry. He was angry that she'd been stupid enough to stand there, he couldn't understand why she didn't move. He was fairly sure that if he had been the one had been hit, he wouldn't not be in some penguin suit standing in a cemetery right now.

He was angry that Patrick had not gotten a triple life sentence, like his father had. Even though, his father was a far better person – and that was a hard thing for him to admit – because he had never attacked an unsuspecting individual.

He was angry at the school that knew nothing about the girl they were mourning for. He was furious that they were talking about her with general over statements that did nothing to communicate her persona; rather they had turned her funeral into some sort of media PR event to convey the hard line a hero must walk and the sacrifices they must make. They had turned her into the hero she didn't want to be, the martyr for a cause he wasn't sure if she believed in. After all, she had mentioned something about teaching once.

This whole thing was a farce, at the wake he had walked up to her coffin for the sole purpose of making sure she really was dead. Her body looked so alive.

He was angry at himself. He was angry that during the service he had sat next to his girlfriend, who sobbed incoherently. He was angry that he had held her while she cried because not 20 feet forward they were burying one of her life long friends. He was angry because the ceremony was supposed to honour her, and he wasn't honouring her by holding the girl that was the reason they were kept apart. But she had given her life so he could still have his. She wouldn't resent him for living it.

If he had chosen differently would things still be like this? It changes when you change. That's what she had told him.

He was a bit bitter, because he wanted to wish he had chosen differently, but consoling the blonde haired girl he knew he couldn't.

The blonde cryokinetic was sobbing loudly and crying, unknowingly into the tuxedo jacket of Barron Battle that had been handed down to his son. She was drowning herself in her grief and the big gulps of air she was taking were not helping to clear her head. Actually they were, but what she needed was to clear her heart. She would not realise this till later that day when she began to comprehend what her now late best friend had felt for her present boyfriend.

Two seats from the element couple sat another dark haired girl. She was crying as well but had her head bowed and maintained a constant motion of dabbing at her eyes to prevent the tears from overcoming her face. She had more composure than Katie, she thought. Emily was not one to give herself to her emotions, not publicly at least - which is why she persuaded Will to keep up his relationship with Layla for months after they had begun their secret affair. She was currently experiencing regret and remorse. Emily had not meant to push Bethany away. She didn't even want to in the beginning. It had nothing to do with Bethany having he vision about Katie getting hurt during the plane attack at the airport, absolutely nothing. But that night, when she was creeping around at night, and Emily saw her see her and Will. Well, it was a big problem at the time. She could approach her because she didn't wish to bring the topic out for discussion, or confirm what she may or may not have saw, and with Katie in the hospital it was the perfect opportunity for her to feign anger and push her and her prying eyes away. She didn't mean to throw away a childhood friendship, not for a guy, even if he happened to be Will Stronghold. She didn't mean for it all to end like this. She thought they would have more time, to reconcile and explain. She thought everything would be okay when her and Will had finally come out, and Katie had woken up, but she had been so pre-occupied with everything in her life – her life that she was still living – that time had run out.

To the side of Emily sat young Will Stronghold. He too felt constricted as he saw the cherrywood box containing the young girl lay on the grass ahead. He felt that maybe he had set a bad example. He wouldn't voice this opinion, not even to Emily to whom he now felt a stronger pull too because time was so fleeting. He believed that his relationship with Emily had set a bad example. Perhaps this had served as justification for Warren, who had admitted a few weeks prior that something was developing between him and the late psychic. Perhaps if Will hadn't set the standard of cheating boyfriend Warren wouldn't have felt it acceptable to encourage that kind of relationship with Bethany, and she would still be alive today. Will was always eager to blame himself for the shortcomings of the world around him. This would make him a compassionate individual, a passionate hero, and a weary man later in life. If he had gotten anything else from this it was that he should make amends with Layla. Before it was too late for them like it was too late for Emily and Bethany.

Speaking of Layla, she was sitting in the row ahead of the two couples. Unlike the females prior mentioned she was not with her boyfriend, she didn't have one. But the feminist advocate felt that she didn't need a man to clutch onto to be able to express her grief. And grief she had, with a heavy dose of guilt. It was her firm belief that she had been misguided when she had approached Bethany in the hospital. While her intentions may have been noble and clear, something in her tone or word choice may have set the Bethany off on the path that caused to no longer be with them today. Maybe she felt like Layla, like everyone, had been blaming her. That bullet had been her redemption. Whatever the reason, Layla felt she should have just minded her own business. She was just lashing out at Bethany because she had recently found out that Bethany had known about Will and Emily the whole time. Today she wasn't angry. Not even a little bit, not even at all.

In the same row as Layla, at the very edge, her seat bordering the aisle seat sat Principal Powers. She felt regret that she had not taken the time to know this student. She looked through her permanent record first thing that morning, of course she knew nothing about her, the girl's record was squeaky clean. Even though, for the last few years she had been the one escorting her to the detention room to write all her exams she was pressed to remember her face. Unbeknownst to all, in the top drawer of her desk in her office at Sky High she had a compartment that would come loose. In it were the photos of every student who had every fallen during duty, and Bethany's photo would soon be at the top of that pile. She would be the first student to have died during the petty villain assignment. This would mean some serious policy changes.

In the very first row sat Bethany's mother and father. Bethany's father was wishing that for all the cherished time he had spent with her, she had not moved in with him because then she would still be alive. Bethany's mother wished Bethany would have come back to California with her. More than that, she wished that she had never left, and that she hadn't wasted years alienating herself from her daughter.

The music began to play louder and everyone waited while the coffin was lowered into the ground. Family members came up and shovelled the first mounds of dirt on top of the coffin, and then people were allowed to come and pay their last respects with tokens of love.

Layla Williams fist closed walked up and gently tossed six seeds into the hole. As they descended they elongated into six long stemmed red roses. One for forgiveness, regret, remembrance, friendship, pain, and redemption.

Warren Peace walked up and threw in a small vial containing disposable sutures that she had once packaged for him.

When it was all over the continued to pack the dirt and it seemed poignant to the pyrokinetic how this was drawn out to prolong her life, to cling on to her memory.

He gave his girlfriend's hand a gentle squeeze and sidestepped to the aisle where he briskly walked out of the cemetery. He began to loosen his tie as he thought of the kind of trouble he would have to get into to get locked in a cell with a petty criminal named Patrick.

His finals thoughts as he left were that she had to have seen it end like this. She had too. Maybe she was the hero they were making her out to be, he thought. It couldn't just be about tight spandex and catchy sayings, it was about knowing the consequences and still making the sacrifices. She would have known the consequences best of all.

_Rest __In__ Peace_

_1989 – 2007_

_Bethany __Kerwin_

_Beloved Daughter; Trusted Protector_

_Για__να__δει__και__να__ολοκληρώσει_

**The End.**

**A/N: **The inscription is Greek it means "In order to it sees and it completes" – I thought it was fitting. And that my friends, was it! I hope you enjoyed it, I did. I'm pretty proud right now because this is the first multi-chapter story I've completed. It's been pretty monumental, and has for me, marked off a great beginning to a literary 2008.

Disclaimer I do no own Sky High, Imogen Heap, of any of the bands listed below.

_Imogen__ Heap – Hide and Seek_

where are we?  
what the hell is going on?  
the dust has only just begun to fall  
crop circles in the carpet  
sinking feeling  
spin me round again  
and rub my eyes,this can't be happening  
when busy streets a mess with people  
would stop to hold their heads - heavy  
hide and seek  
trains and sewing machines  
all those years  
they were here first

**oily marks appear on walls**_  
where pleasure moments hung before the takeover,  
__the sweeping insensitivity of this still life_

hide and seek  
trains and sewing machines (oh, you won't catch me around here)blood and tears (hearts)they were here first  
Mmmm whacha say,  
Mmmm that you only meant well?  
well of course you did  
Mmmm whacha say,Mmmm that its all for the best?  
Because it is  
Mmmm whacha say?  
Mmmm that it's just what we need  
you decided this  
whacha say?  
Mmmm what did she say?  
ransom notes keep falling out your mouthmid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut outs  
speak no feeling no i don't believe you  
you don't care a bit, you don't care a bit(hide and seek)ransom notes keep falling out your mouth  
mid-sweet talk, newspaper word cut outs(hide and seek)speak no feeling no i don't believe you  
you don't care a bit,you don't care a (you don't care a) bit(hide and seek)oh no, you don't care a bit  
oh no, you don't care a bit x2

_Chapter Playlist._

Chapter 1. Count Yourself In – 10 Second Epic

Chapter 2. Strange and Beautiful – Aqualung

Chapter 3. The Music – David Usher

Chapter 4. Let It Die - Feist

Chapter 5. Hey There Delilah – Plain White T's

Chapter 6. I'll Keep Your Memory Vague – Finger Eleven

Chapter 9. Say The Word – The Classic Crime


End file.
